

ill 




.^^ 






V- 









o 



WORK AND MATERIALS 



FOR 



AMERICAN HISTOKY 






'^■J.tiHSg 



,\e^*'f^4rfeoF 





In 1807, 8, 0, the late Dr. George H. Moore 
contributed to the Historical Magazine a series of 
articles on early American History, which are 
here printed from the type of that magazine. 
They were, without doubt, thus printed with the 
intention of making a volume, as it Is well 
known that Mr. Dawson the editor, was In the 
habit of doing. At the sale of Dr. Moore's books 
I bought eighteen copies of the sheets which are 
offered as I found them, with the addition of a 
title page and List of Contents. Somewhat 
more was printed in the magazine, but for rea- 
sons which I fully understand, but will say 
nothing about, the contributionB were discon- 
tinued. 

CHAS. L. WOODWARD. 



COMTENTS 



PAGB 

Letter "written by Richard "Wharton at Bos- 
ton, September 24, 1673 1 

Some Proposition concerning ye ill conse- 
quence of New Yorke being in ye hands 
of ye Dutch. By Wm. Dyre, Gent 7 

Accompt of Iroquois Indians 11 

Notes on the Maintenance of the Ministry 
and Poor in New York. Trinity Church 
and its first resident Rector 14 

The New England Synod of 1637 72 

Dudley's Request to Winthrop on his Death- 
bed 83 

The Massachusetts Laws of 1648, and Joseph 
Hills 85 

PoBtBcrlpt to the foregoing article— A Notice 
of some remarks on the same subject by 
a recent editor of Johnson's Wonder- 
Working Providence, etc 91 

The Pilgrim's Progress in New England 104 

Cotton Mather's opinion of Homer 105 



PAGE 

Doctor Chauncey's Character of the Massa- 
chusetts General Court, 1747 1G5 

"Prophetic Voices about America." — la 
the Millennium 106 

Rev. Nathaniel Ward — His Massachusetts 
Election Sermon in 1641, and his Sermon 
before the House of Commons in 1647 
His reply to Cotton in 1647 110 

Giles Firmin and his Various Writings 120 

The Cross in the King's colors in Massa- 
chusetts 137 

Certain Propositions for the better accom- 
modating the Foreigne Plantations with 
Servants reported from the Committee 
to the Councell of Foreigne Plantations 
[Circa, 1684] 144 

John Saffin and his Domestic relations 149 

[Uulinished.] 



WORK AND MATERIALS FOR AMER- 
ICAN HISTORY. 



1. — Richard Wharton to , 24 Sept. 

1673. 

Boston in New Engl^ Sepf 24, 1673. 

HONRD SR. 

Those undeserved kindnesses & fav" you have 
manifested to some of my nearest & most neces- 
sitous Relations & those ingagem'^ you have laid 
upon my selfe by offering a Correspondence & 
Communication have sometimes made me 
ashamed of my so long silence, but the constant 
hopes I have had of a suddain returne to make a 
psonall acknowledgement of my obligation, as 
they have again satisfyed me so I hope they will 
you alsoe : But now finding myselfe wrapped up 
& confined by buisiness & restrained from y' op- 
portunity, I am willing at once to lay hold upon 
this occasion to express my respects & confess 
my defect in duty to yo''selfe and manifest my 
allegiance & loyalty to his Majesty. I remem- 
ber yo'' request & injunction to acq* you with 
such novel! affayres & occurrents as might fall 
under my knowledge & observation : And I 
know yo'' intelligence is such y' I need not copy 
out the Charter & Constitutions of these Colony es 
1 



to you, nor informeyou of the extent of his Maj'y' 
Territoryes upon this Continent, nor y' his sub- 
jects have planted themselves & proclaimed his 
soveraignty in all the habitable p'^ betwen Cape- 
Sable & Cape Romane, nor \v' a fair foundation 
•was here lately laid for the Roy all ofspring of 
Great Brittain to build a most glorious empire 
upon, nor need I to you enumerate the many 
usefull & rich commodityes y' nature affords & 
y' Art & Industry may produce in these plan- 
tations : Onely this I confidently tell you & am 
psuaded that though these pts of the world are 
disesteemed by the Princes of Europe, yet if the 
most potent among them were seated with their 
subjects upon this continent it vFOuld be more 
difficult to psuade them to returne to their 
ancient Dominions, then now it is to remove 
them thence. 

Yon are not ignorant, I know, y* his Royall 
Highness with a vast expence gained (& hath 
since maintained, from the Dutch a province by 
them called the Manados, since in his Highness 
possession New Yorke, w^hich of late is most 
shamefully given up to the Dutch. The occasion 
whereof I shall briefly relate to you. Upon the 
11 of July last Cornelius Everson with eight 
ships of Warr & a fire ship attacked o'' Virginia 
fleet at the appointed rendezvous for their returne 
home neer Poynt Comfort & at y" same place had 
the same success as in the yeare 67 (burning & 
taking 19 sayle) onely y convoyes escaped & 
Capt. Gardner by his resolute & good behaviour 
gained not onely from his friends but eneniyes an 
hon''able report. The enemy having there thus 
effected their designe resolved to goe unto Dela- 
ware Bay to wood and water, but finding no suf- 
ficient Pilotts in their fleet for y* place & having 
severall psons of this place prisoners y' were 



well acquainted at N. Yorke, they resolved for 
Staten Island to recruite & by w' C people 
pceived were rather afraid of receiving some dis- 
turbance from New Yorke then giving any to it: 
But wLilest they rid there severall of their coun- 
treymen from New Yorke iu Cauoues & boats 
went privately aboard and gave intelligence by 
the weakeness & disorder of the place that the 
Govern'' was gone to Connecticutt, the garrison 
souldiers most drawne out, the guns in the fort 
most dismounted or the carriages rotten or un- 
ready none fitt to command in place, the people 
generally dissatisfyed with the oppression of such 
as ruled the towne and trade and y' they were 
ready to revolt: upon which invitations & in- 
couragem'^ they were imboldened to bring up 
their ships ag' the Towne & finding no resistance 
landed about 500 men who in a strait & long 
street leading to the fort (which was very strong 
& defensible) they marched up to the fort (& in 
their march were onely saluted with one gunn) 
& upon their approach the English flagg was 
struck & the gates sett open, so y' without the 
least dispute or complem* the English marched 
out & the Dutch into the Fort & finding them- 
selves so peceably possessed & the English so 
tamely taken, they marched out of the fort again, 
disarmed these few souldiers that the officers had 
so betrayed & finding their entrance & entertaine- 
m* so fticil & friendly they made present seizure 
of the estates of the English & dispatched a small 
frigott up to Fort Albanye with a summons & 
declaration y' N. Yorke had surrendered & ofier 
of the same termes & articles granted to N. 
Yorke, which without any inquiry or further 
capitulation were accepted & so the Estates & 
persons of the English there by their owne inad- 
vertency betrayed into the power of the enemy. 



Their next stratagem was to invite Col. Lovelace 
who from Connecticutt was gone over to Long 
Island, to come in, who it is supposed for protec- 
tion from the deserved punishm' answered their 
invitation, leaving the poor people upon y' Isl- 
and, without commission or commander to stand 
up for their defence, which y« Dutch (having 
Col. Lovelace prisoner) well understanding re- 
quired all the Townes upon j" Island to send in 
their constable's staffs & Col" & come to receive 
new ones from the Prince of Orange, & all the 
Townes except Southampton readily subjected 
after the example of their Govern^ Some psons 
from Southampton made application to the 
Gener" Court here for assistance. The messen- 
ger John Cooper, a resolute man, proposing it 
as easy with an 100 armed men to proclaime his 
Maj*^ in all the Townes upon Long Island having 
commission thereto, the English there, though 
they have carryed in their staffes & Col" being 
not under oath to the Dutch & desirous to returne 
to their allegiance would but any appear with 
commission to require them so to doe. It was 
further proposed with considerable incouragem" 
as that w"'^ highly concerned his hon"^ & was the 
duty & security of the Countrey to raise forces also 
to reduce New Yorke, which with y" Volunteers 
y' would have come in might easily have been 
effected ; But o'' Deputyes in the Gen" Court 
wholly refused to ingage the Countrey in the un- 
dertaking : So the enemy are likely quietly to 
injoy w* they have acquired till His Majesty 
give them disrest & indeed my principle buisi- 
ness as in duty & allegiance I am bound is to in- 
forme as a fitt pson to acq* his Maj'^how much 
his hon'' & the maintenance & continuance of his 
just title upon this continent and adjacent isl- 
ands call upon him by some speedy & effectual 



expedition to unkennell hia enemyes. New 
Yorke is in the navelle of his Majestyes Terri- 
torye & his subjects on both sides are so famil- 
iarized to the Dutch by trade & converse, y' all 
will not believe they are their enemyes. And 
having such a convenient place of shelter & 
resort for their shipping his Majesty's subjects 
will be universally infested if not overrun & con- 
quered in their Plantations & destroyed in their 
navigation as the said news from Virginia & 
this day from Newfoundland informs us, viz : 
That some of those ships y' went from New 
Yorke have been in Newfoundland & taken all 
the English vessels in y' countrey giving us ptic- 
uP information of five or six belonging to this 
Jurisdiction. If speedy care be taken bef"''' the 
Enemy send furth"' strength or supplyes, two or 
three frigotts with two or three hundred men 
for land service with such force as may be raised 
here will be sufficient. But in such case the fri- 
gotts must be here in February or March at fur- 
thest or else the Enemy will gain the goal be- 
fore them. And o'' souldiers must have warm 
cloathing & bedding aboard, or else the frost 
will unfitt them for service. The private Capt°^ 
ought to be men of courage & experience & were 
I worthy to advise, the Generall Officer should 
be elected in this Countrey who by his knowledge 
thereof & the interests & inclinations of the peo- 
ple here, & the enemyes methods & dependances 
might more gratefully levy & successfully con- 
duct the forces. His Majesty hath many worthy 
subjects here & psons fitt for command, amongst 
whom I shall onely name Maj'' Daniell Dennison, 
sometimes Maj"^ Gen" here. He is a gentleman, 
a scholar, & a souldier & all that is requisite to 
make a man a loyall & serviceable subject. But 
I am too premptory in such intimations, onely I 



6 



consider it is not immediately to my Prince but 
to my friend, who if anything be pertinent hath 
prudence to pick it out and candour to pardon 
w' is insignificant. For a more certain knowl- 
edge of the constitutions of o"" gouvernment & 
complexions of the people I referr you to M"' 
Edw^ Rainsborough an intellig' Gentleman who 
went home three months since. I have requested 
him to wait on you & communicate w' I have ad. 
vised him. If S'' you should be instrumentall to 
send any frigotts to these p'^ hasten them as 
much as possible (for two may be more servicea- 
ble in March than six in May), and if M"" Robert 
Woolley or any other friends or correspondents 
of mine desire conveyance for any goods to me, 
lett me request yo'' interest to accommodate 
them. S"" pray read this as my grounded per- 
suasion of the declension of his Maj'y^ interest in 
these p'" without some speedy prevention, & ex- 
pose not this to the view or knowledge of any y' 
may make relation of it here. Excuse me if 
neither time, paper, nor your patience without a 
trespass, will admitt an entrance into pticular 
communication which hereafter I may adventure 
upon. In the interim remayne S' 

Yo'' obliged Kinsman & faithfull Serv' 
Richard Wharton. 

M'' Rainsborough dwells at Knights bridge & 
is to be heard of at M'' Whiting's shop upon the 
old Exchange. 

S'' My Wife presents yo''selfe and Lady with 
her service desiring her to accept a barrell of 
Cranberryes & a pott of refined sugar for Winter 
Tarts, ship'd aboard the Pinck Providence, W" 
Piper, Master. 



2. — Some Proposition concerning y^ ill con- 
sequence OF New Yorke being in y^ hands 
of Ye Dutch, wt'i something in order to 

THE retaking AND SETTLING IT UNDER HIS 
MATliS OBEDIENCE AGAIN. 

Most humbly offered tu yo" Lordship's 

CONSIDERATION, BY W*' DyRE, GeNT. 

The Province of New Yorkshire wholy in j" 
possession of y® Dutch, is not only a perticular 
loss to his Ma''* a generall mine to his English 
subjects there, and highly injurious to y* adja- 
cent Colonies; but above all prejudicial! to y» 
whole American Trade : by W^'' his Ma"'^' cus- 
tomes are abated, many m''chants undon, and 
much shiping lost. 

By reason y" Enemy thereby has y« conve- 
nience to repair their ships and recrute w"* pro- 
visions iny' port. Taking all oppertunity to be 
at y" Capes of Virginia, surprising what ships 
are bound in thither, w"' y« like advantage upon 
all y" Coasts of New England, Newfoundland, y« 
Garibee Island and Carolina w"='' gives a severe 
check toy* navigation of those parts. 

And for as much as y ?aid port of New Yorke 
is y very center and key of his Ma"''^ Domin- 
ions in America, it is as commodious whilest in 
obedience, or y« contrary when in an enemy's 
hand, as y' of Tangiers to y« streights or y" 
Downs to ye Chaunell of England : And y" loss 
of it as hurtfull to his Ma"''' Western afairs, as 
those mought be to his Uropian Concerns. 

Wherefore if y« thing were right stated, and 
truly represented to y" King's most excell' Ma"" 
y' so his Ma"« may be graciously pleased to di- 
gest y*' matf into a resolution of sending some 
force to reduce y« province, and rout out y*^ in- 
sulting enemy, who now disturbs y'' quiet of all 



J" American Plantacons, and greatly impover- 
ishes y^ poor inhabitants thereof. To prevent w"*" 
and all other ensuing mischiefs there, is easie, if 
his Ma"'* please to dispatch avray 4 ships from 
30 to 40 guns apiece •w"^ will be sufficient force, 
both for safe convoy of y'* Virginia fleet out and 
home, and also to make his Ma"" master of y" 
said province to a far greater advantage than 
formerly, by expelling y Dutch inhabitants who 
have given just grounds for j" same, by throw- 
ing off their late subjection and obedience to his 
Ma"*". In this Expedition there will be no need of 
sending land forces from hence, seeing they may 
be had in New England, if there be occasion, and 
a way found to pay them of there, w'^'out puting 
his Ma"'* to y* charg of transporting an army out 
and home. 

If when ye fleet arrive it be found necessary to 
form a body by land, I dare presume to ingage 
my life for y raising men enough through my 
acquaintance and interest in them parts, pro- 
vided his Ma"'^' be graciously pleased to grant 
orders for y same, and give commissions to such 
as are men of estates there, good souldiers and 
loyally affected to his Ma'"*" service, by whos 
ready complyance and faithfull assistance y** de- 
sign may soon be accomplished, and y" sould''^ 
when paid and disbanded, forthwith repair to 
their respective habitacons again. 

But until his Ma"*"" pleasure is to order and 
command an assistance from y inhabitants of 
New England, it is most certain they wiil not 
move ; alledging y' New York is a distinct Col- 
ony under another Government and confered 
upon his Royall Highness, Wherefore they have 
no cause to ptend any just grounds for entering 
into a warr w"" y* Dutch upon their own ac- 
count, w^ they are ill able to maintain by sea. 



9 



though by land sufficiently capable if they please 
to proceed to action, though my psent fears do 
aptly suggest (considering y^ estate of those Col- 
onys and y" constitution of their inhabitants) 
that in this exigent, w"'out succor, they may be 
compelled to embrace such terms as may be of a 
very ill and dangerous consequence, both to his 
Ma"* and all his good subjects there, if they have 
not speedy relief by shiping from hence. 

In all this I chiefly respect his Ma'"^^" interest, 
and y" publique good and also as a dutifull sub- 
ject have a tender regard to y« wellfair of those 
suifering Plantations, by whos produce his Ma"'' 
receives £150,000 customes yearly, upon w'^'' ac- 
count I am y bolder to spred y" case before yo"" 
Lordship, psuming to urge it, in hope y' by yo'' 
noble sense thereof, and generous motions in y^ 
same, his Ma"''" revenue shall be preserved, and 
y* subjects rights secur'd. 

When J" said place is reduced, the next thing 
in order to secure y" same intire, will be to es- 
pell all y" people of y" Dutch nation, fortify the 
entrances and settle a garrison so as it shall be 
almost impossible for any enemy to invade or do 
spoyl for y** future Especially if y® military af- 
fairs be put under y" command of such experi- 
enced officers, as shall faithfully preserve his 
Maj"''^ interest there, and not distroy it and the 
Plantations. And then for y" better peopling, 
planting and strengthening of y province it vrill 
be requisite y* all j" farms, houses and grounds 
of y'^ Dutch inhabitants be sold, for his Ma"*'^ ad- 
vantage at reasonable rates to encourage English 
settlers in them parts, who may be more induced 
thereunto by his Ma"'^^ indulgent Governm* of 
that place. 

Thus would it become a flourishing Colony 
and y* immediately if his Ma"-' please to appoint 
2 



10 



a Govern^ that is acquainted w"' y manners and 
Constitutions of y* Countrey, whom y® executing 
those laws, Acts and Ord" both Civil and Eccle- 
siastical! w'='' shall be established there, may carry 
a gentle even Decorum w^'out rigour, severity or 
extream compulsion in things of Indifference. 

By this means that perpetuall charge w'='' his 
Ma*'" has ever been at, to maintain y' place, as 
also y** danger of its being any more lost and y« 
inconvenience of y** Dutch Nation inhabiting 
there may be prevented, and y*" port so managed 
as to become y* magazlen of America, and upon 
occasion give relief to y® neighbour Colonies. 
But at all times affording a quiet and plentifuU 
subsistence to its own inhabitants, Producing a 
cleer annual! profEt to his Ma*''^. 
First. By a moderate impost upon all mer- 

chandize, port duties, great rents, fines 
and amercements &c. 
Secondly. By building ships and otherways im- 
proving y" timber to make plank, 
boards, frames, pipe staves and y* like 
for sundry uses there, as well as y« 
advantages to be made by exportation 
of y same. 
Thirdly. By improvement of y" trade w*'^ y^ 
Natives, increase of manufacture, to- 
gether with y" beuefite of corn, cattle 
and all manner of husbandry. 
Fourthly. By taking whales on y" south side of 
Loug Island, which is and will be (if 
encouraged) of very great worth to the 
plantacon and in a short time bring 
his Ma''" in a considerable revenue. 
There are allso good benefits to be made of y» 
Iron ore in them parts w"*" is very plenty, and 
many other perquisits and immunities conduci- 
ble both to private and publique advantages. 



11 



Lastly, if yo' Lordship, to y» effecting of y« 
good ends afforesaid, shall be pleased to promote 
and forward y" sending a small force to put a 
stop to y dayly losses sustained in y" shiplng 
and trade of y" above mentioned places w'='' would 
be profitable to his Ma'" and give many thousand 
poor distressed souls cause to have yo"" Lord- 
ships name in perpetuall honour And heartily to 
pray for yo' Lordships psent health and future 
happiness, as most unfeignedly does 
Yo"" Lordships 
humble and obliged Servant. 



3.— i" AccoiiPT OF Iroquois Indians." 

The Iroquois (so called by the French) to the 
Northward of Manliattens (now New York) and 
west of Orenge (now New Albany) are Indian 
Natives, the most wiirlike in North America, 
seated in a trackt of laud west from the said 
Albany (and head of Ilodson's or New York 
River) to the south of tlie Lakes vulgarly called 
the Lakes of Canada ; But the said Indians are 
likewise distinguished by severall names and 
places or Castles of abode as (by the English) 
the Maquas or Mahaks live about 25 leagues 
from Albany in 3 Castles distant about 4 or 5 
leagues, stockaded round. The Oneidas live 
about 30 leagues, more west and have but one 
castle. The Onondagues live about 10 leagues 
further, and have but one castle, seated nere the 
Lake Onontario. The Coyouges are about 15 or 
20 leagues further, but more southerly, and 
further from the Lake, have but one castle. The 
Sineques live about 25 or 30 leagues more west, 
Northerly nere the Lake, have 3 Castles or greate 



12 



settlements, but not fortifyed distant about 4 or 
5 leagues. All tbe said Indians bave Misionary 
father Jesuits from Canada (and which are also 
in more distant parts) and all the said Indians 
have distinct Sachems but were never at vari- 
ance, their language is the same, so as to under- 
stand each other, though with some variation 
(as in severall provinces of a Kingdome in Europe) 
Other neighbouring Indians have severall differ- 
ent speeches, not understood by each other. The 
Sineques have hunting habitations on the other 
or Northerne side of the Lake Onontario which 
Lake is reputed to bee nere 100 French leagues 
long S. W. and N. E. and above 25 broad and 
is very deepe water, and on the said Lake the 
French (about 10 yeares past and upwards) have 
had a sloope or vessell of about 20 Tuns with 
sayles and a lyter that tends on a small fort, or 
trading place, built by Mons"" La Sale at the 
north end of the Lake, from whence about GO 
leagues to Mount Royall in which space above 
30 Cataraks or falls not navigable and 60 leagues 
to Quebeck navigable, there is usually in Cator- 
oquy kept about 15 or 20 men the said Lake is 
distant from Albany about 50 or 55 leagues. 

The above said Indians have allwayes had a 
good corespondence and friendship with Albany 
and beene understood or taken to bee as other 
neighbouring Indians on this side the Lake's de- 
pendence and part of the Government, which 
themselves doe also owne and have beene no 
otherwise treated for many yeares; But the said 
Indians particularly Maquas or Mahaks had 
continued disputes and warrs with the French of 
Canada, till about the yeare 1668, when the 
French made 2 inroades into the said Maquas or 
Mahaks country ; the first with about 500 men 
but mistaking their way and the Indians pre- 



13 



pared they retreated with some losse; their 
second expedition and inroade was with 1000 
men or upwards and then they surprised the 
said Indians who all fled, and the French entred 
and burnt their Castles and then they made 
peace which hath been observed ever since, and 
a free trade (tho' sometymes endeavoured by the 
French to be diverted from other parts) to Can- 
ada, where they sell to the Indians all sorts of 
goods and liquors, and particularly armes, pow- 
der, shott &c. as in other places. 

In the yeare 1675 the said Indians having made 
application to the Governour at Albany and the 
New England Indian Warr being then very vio- 
lent, the Governour resolved as necessary to goe 
himselfe, as far as the Maquas or Mahaks habita- 
tions to visitt and view them as part of the Gov- 
ernment and went to their farthest Castle, and 
was received and treated by them there accord- 
ingly, and after sent to the others as far as Sin- 
equess, and they observed and obeyed his direc- 
tions and orders and proved very faithfull &■=. 
And the Mahaks were the first that beat Phillipp 
the Indian Sachim of New England who had 
wintred that way in hopes to gaine them or 
others, Driving him back to New England sea 
side, and would have pursued if sufferred. Tho 
said Iroquois and their lands are seated on the 
back of the Kings plantations and head of the 
Rivers as far West as Virginia, and east neare to 
Albany, and some settlements and improvements 
are made by Christians upon part of their said 
land purchased or gott from the Maquas or Ma- 
haks within Stanextady and Albany's Bounds in 
New York Government, and the said Indians 
habitations and castles are in or about the lati- 
tude of 43 degrees (M'' Pens Northerne Bounds 
of Pensilvania.) 



14 



The said Iroquoia and all other Indians in those 
parts are greate hunters of all sorts of wild 
creatures, beasts and fowles, which they kill 
most with fire arms (except Beavers) and trade 
with all Christians for what they want, and are 
by them supplyed perticularly with armes and 
ammunicon (as in Canada, so) in all his Ma""' 
plantations of New England, New York, New 
Jersey, Pensilvania, Mariland, Virginia &c And 
if debarred or prohibited by any one Colony or 
Government, the said place would not onely 
loose the trade to the benefit of the other neigh- 
bouring parts, but hazzard greater mischiefs 
from the said Indians discontent, by their pil- 
fring, private injuryes, or open warr, which 
would bee very prejudiciall, not onely to the in- 
terest of his Roy" Highness (the Proprietor.) but 
even to all other his Ma*'<=' neighbouring sub- 
jects, in as much as in the late New England 
warr with the Indians 'tis probable all those 
Countreyes would have beene in greate daiuger 
of being destroyed, had not the Government of 
New York retained an influence over these In- 
dians, not onely as they are reputed part of the 
Government, but with their constant free trade 
with those of New Yorke. 



4. — Notes on the Maintenance op the Min- 
istry AND Poor in New York — The Colo- 
nial Ministry Acts — The Vestry of the 
City of New York — The Minister op the 
City op New York — Trinity Church and 
its first resident Rector. 

The maintenance of the Ministry and Poor un- 
der the earliest English Laws in New York, was 



15 



provided for by the appointment of eight* of the 
most able men, men of good fame and life, of 
each parish as Overseers,! two of v?hom were 
chosen the first or second day of April yearly by 
the Constable and Overseers to be Church War- 
dens. These overseers were chosen by the House- 
holders of the Parish or the Freeholders in each 
Town, and were liable to a fine for refusal to 
serve. Their duties embraced the making and 
proportioning the levies and assessments for 
building and repairing churches, provision for 
the poor,J maintenance for the minister, as well 
as the more orderly managing of all Parochial 
Aifairs in other cases expressed. The Constable 
was associated with them in making all assess- 
ments — which were to be proportionable to the 
estates of the inhabitants in the town or parish 
where they were to be made, and every defaulter 
was to be compelled to pay his rate by attach- 
ment or distress of goods to be levied by the Con- 
stable. No person was exempted from payment 
of the Church rates, every inhabitant being 
obliged to contribute to all charges both in 
Church and State, " whereof he doth or may re- 
" ceive benefit.'' This feature in the law appears 
to have met with some opposition. It was re- 
pealed at the first meeting of the Court of Assizes 
in 1665, but was restored two years afterward, 

* The number of overseers was afterwards reduced to four. 

t In the Virginia law of that period these "overseers" 
were " vestrymen " — and they were required to take the oath 
of allegiance and supremacy and to subscribe to conform to 
the Church of England. Hening ; ii., 15. In New York the 
overseers were required to take the oath of allegiance besides 
the oath of their office- 

$ The Maintenance of the Poor in New Netherland was pro- 
vided for by contributions taken up in the Churches, and the 
fines imposed for offences committed were also appropriated to 
their support The amount was increased by voluntary offer- 
ings from the inhabitants — and was known as the Deacons' or 
Poor-Fund. Col. Doc. i., 300. 424. 



16 



by the same authority, " to be as punctually ob- 
" served, as any other law, any former order 
"to the contrary notwithstanding." 

From the beginning, great regard was mani- 
fested for the due protection and observance of 
the Lord's Day. Sunday Laws form a part of the 
earliest English legislation in the province. 
Sundays were not to be profaned by travellers, 
laborers, or vicious persons. Sabbath-breaking 
was expressly enumerated among the abomina- 
ble sins and misdemeanors to be presented by 
the Church wardens, Constable and Overseers at 
the Sessions. The Constable was required to ar- 
rest without warrant such as were guilty of 
Sabbath-breaking — and no writs or warrants 
were allowed to be executed on the Sabbath day, 
although officers might arrest in case of Riots, 
Felony or Escape out of Prison. 

The first code also required that in each parish 
within the Government a church should be built 
in the most convenient part thereof, capable to 
receive and accommodate two hundred persons. 
This was found impracticable, for in the 
Amendments made at the meeting of the Gen 
eral Assizes in September and October of the 
same year, (1665) it was provided that such 
churches should be built within three years af- 
terwards and to that end, a Town rate or tax 
was authorized to begin that year. 

A good degree of liberality prevailed in the gov- 
ernment. The articles of Capitulation declared 
that " the Dutch here shall enjoy the Liberty of 
" their Consciences in divine Worship and Church 
" Discipline." None but Protestant ministers 
were allowed to officiate within the government, 
but difference in judgment was allowed to all who 
professed Christianity. Indian Powawing and 
Devil Worship were expressly prohibited. 



17 



Governor Nicolls, in his Conditions for New 
Planters in the Territories of his Royal High- 
ness the Duke of York, (May, 1665) allowed lib- 
erty of conscience, " provided such liberty is not 
" converted to Licentiousness, or the Disturbance 
" of others, in the exercise of the Protestant Relig- 
"ion;" By another condition the maintenance 
of the Ministry was provided for : 

" Every Township is obliged to pay their Min- 
" ister according to such Agreement as they shall 
"make with him, and no man to refuse his Pro- 
" portion, the Minister being elected by the 
"Major part of the Householders Inhabitants of 
" the Town." 

On the 11th October, 1664, Dominies Joannes 
Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius appeared be- 
fore the Burgomasters and stated that they had 
received their discharge from the Company " in 
" date the last of the month of September, not- 
" withstanding which as they were inclined to 
"serve the Commonalty, they had addressed 
" themselves to the Heer Governour Richard Nic- 
" oils and spoke to his Honour about the wages, 
" who gave them for answer that it runs for the 
" time of six months to which time the Company 
" is receiving the Recognitions (Duties) after 
" which time he shall see how the matter shall 
" be arranged — that in order to ascertain how 
" they shall have to regulate themselves, they 
" with that view applied to the Burgomasters to 
" speak to their Worships thereon; to which the 
" Burgomasters replied, that the Ace" of the City's 
"Income and Expenditure shall be made up as 
" soon as possible, which shall then be shewn to 
" the IP. Governour Rich. Nicolls and they shall 
" then speak further with his Honour regarding 
" the wages as well of the Ministers as of the 
" other servants of the city." B ^ S. Vol. V. 599. 
3 



18 



On 11th Oct. 1664, Mr. Evert Pieterzen, School- 
master of this City, represents, as his allowance 
from the Company is struck off, that Burgomas- 
ters and Schepens shall be pleased to keep him 
at the same allowance to wit : fl. 36 per month, 
fl. 125 for hoard, Hollands currency, free house 
for school and residence, and free passage to Pa- 
tria; offering his Service and to continue the 
same. The order was that the Petitioner shall 
have to be patient for the space of Eight days, 
when his petition shall be disposed of. M. if A. 
V. 606. And on the 18th of October the mat- 
ter was postponed " a day or two." Ibid. F. 613. 

September 19, 1665. Mr. Evart Pieterzen pe- 
titioned for a suitable salary, as he was hereto- 
fore paid by the Hon*''" Company, and has been 
continued in his employment. 

" Whereas orders shall be shortly made rela- 
" live to the Salary of the Ministers of this City, 
" imder which tbe Precentorship also comes, pro- 
" per order shall then be made herein likewise." 
Mayo?' and Aldermen, VI. 73, 

November 13, 1665. The Chh. very low, there 
not being money enough to fence off the grave 
yard — an advance was made from the Burghers' 
Excise the Chh. Wardens promising to refund 
the same from the first incoming money. Ibid. 
105, 

May 8th, 1666. Capt. Steynmetz entering de- 
mands payment of a year's rent of his house, 
hired to the city as a City School, due on the first 
of this month ; amounting to the sum of fl. 260. 

Petitioner is requested to wait yet a while, as 
there is at present no money in the chest. M. Sf 
A. VI. 178. 

Governor Nicolls issued an order in 1665, 
authorizing and requiring the Deputy Mayor 
and Aldermen of the City of New York to raise 



19 



the sum of 1200 Guilders in Beaver, towards the 
support and maintenance of the Minister of this 
City, to be paid in three payments by equall 
proportions every four months, beginning from 
September 1st, 1665. 

On the 27 December, 1665, being informed 
that they had made little progress, although the 
first four months had nearly elapsed, he issued 
another order strictly requiring them to proceed, 
and "to give mee a List of those men, who being 
"able are unwilling to contribute theire propor- 
" tions to that good end." — Orders, Warrants, Sfc. 
II. 24. 

At a Mayors Court, 7th February, 1666-7 
The Ilonn''''^ Mayor propouudinge to the Court 
that it was the houn'''*' Govern" pleasure that 
this Town should maintaine for one yeare longer 
one of the Ministers of this place, and whereas 
several persons were departed from this Place 
and others disinable to pay towards the same, 
whom the Last Yeare had subscribed 

It is ordered that some of the Inhabitants 
should be sent for to appeare in Court for to trye, 
or they would voluntarily Raise the sums which 
they promised the late yeares to pay towards 
the Maintainance of the Minisf. 

Names of the Persons wlio for One Yeare 
longer have Voluntarily promised to faij towards 
the Maintainance of one of the Ministers, videllect. 

Beavers 

Abell Ilardebroeck fl. 8. 
Balthazar d'llaer continues as before 

Coenraet Ten Eyck 12. 

Christoffel Iloaghlant 12. 

Evert Duyckingh 5. 

Fredrick Philipsen 24. 

Fredrick Gysbersen 12, 



20 



Francois Rombouts 10. 

Johannes de Peyster 16. 

Cornelis Steenwick 28. 

Isaack Bedloo 12. 

Jacques Cousseau continues at 2 Bevers 
& profers 2 B" more for them that 
disinabled to pay what they have 
promised. 

Mettie Wcssels 8. 

Nicolaes Meyer puts down 24. 

Nicolaes Backer 8. 

Poulus Leenders continues 

Pieter Ah-igs 10. 

Johan d'Wit continues 

Jacob Leyslaer 12. 

Tho. Hall 10. 

Thomas Levis 8. 

Symon Romeyn continues 

Jacob Hendri ex Varrevanger 8. 

Reynier Vander Croele till May next 
ensuing one Bever 

"Warner Wessels 12. 

Willem Abransen 8. 

M. §• A. VI. 260, 261. 

October 29th, 1667, at a Mayors Court, in the 
afternoon the following persons were sent for to 
Court and asked why they had not paid their 
quota to the Ministers money 

Answer as follows 
Timothy Gabrie promises to satisfy the Preachers, 
Tomas Laurensen promises to pay 
Ilendrick Willemsen Baker Idem 
Jan Vrees : If he be forced, he must pay other- 
wise cannot. 
Fredrick Arensen : Will not pay more than one 

year, 
Lammert Mol says he cannot pay any more. 
M. j- A. VI p. 325. 



21 



In the instructions by Gov. Lovelace to the 
Commissioners to Albany, appointed 11th April, 
1670, the following is important. They were 
(concerning the Dutch church) 

"7. To acquaint y" mngistrates that I look 
" upon that Church and Minister as the Parochiall 
"Church of Albany (for so it was found Estab- 
" lisht by my p'decessor & myselfe & leave the 
" supportation of it to j" discretion of y« magis- 
" trates to maintain a minister either by way of 
" Tase or otherwise & that no Inhabitant of what 
" opinion soever be exempt but beare his propor- 
" tion, & that they give me an Account of their 
" transactions in this particular." Court of As- 
size: II. 490. 

Lovelace's " promise for j" allowing a Compe- 
"tent Maintenance to any Minister that shall 
" eome over to resyde here" is in C. of A. II. 
560. Also, dated 28 June, 1670, in M. &• A. VI. 
562. 

28 March, 1671. The Mayor's Court promise 
to make satisfaction to Domine Egidius Luyck 
for his services in aid of Domine Drisius. M. &" 
A. VI. 653. 

5 March 1672, The Court this day allowed 
to Dom'^ Luyck by way of gratuity for Preaching 
before Dom<* Nieuwenhuysen's Arrival the somme 
of four hundred gilders seaw" value and ordered 
the Secretary to make payment thereof. M. &" 
A. VL 770. 

On the 11th July, 1671, Uppon his honn' y» 
gouvern^ Letter of Recommandation that y* 
Court together with some of y« officers of y« 
Church should take into consideration how y« 
Salary for y Expected Minister from Europe 
may be Raised y" Court thereupon have thought 
fitt to appoint a private Court to be held on 
Fryday Next being y" 14th of this Instant in y 



22 



afternoone at a clocq and do further desire y" 
Late Aldermeu together with y" Recent and y* 
late Church Officers will give theyr attendance 
at y' s'' time to consult w"^ them conserning y* 
premises. M. cj*. A. VI. 679. 

Accordingly at a private meeting 14th July, 
1671, 

In obedience to his Honn"^ y<' Govern" Letter 
and in pursuance of this Courts' Order there- 
uppou this day appearing in Court j" Former 
Magistraets together with y"" present and former 
Church Officers of this Citty, unto whoem the 
Worshipp' Court Manifested y« reason of this 
present meeting tendring onely for to advise 
together, bow the sallarie, wch is promised 
towardes y*" Maiutennance of y^ Expected Minis- 
ter might be raised, whereuppon y" following 
proposalls where made and presented to this 
Court. 

Imprimis. That, whereas y'' Great Excyse in 
the first beginning was Raysed, onely towards 
the Maintainence of the Ministers, that therefore 
the Ministers ought to to be paid out of the s'^ 
Excyse, although some advancem' should be made 
thereupon. 

2dly. That y*" Burger Excyse might be Raised 
soo much as will maintaine y Minister and satis- 
fie other necessarie Charges. 

3dly. That the Costumes uppon y« Importation 
of Rom and Wines might be raised from 4 to 5 
per cento or more. 

41y That an imposition might be raised uppon 
Rom goeing up for Albany & Esopus. 

5thly That all Townes Charges might be 
Levyed oy a Genn' Taxe, as itt is practicable by 
y" Neighboring Townes, provided y" Excyse be 
taken oiF. 

Uppon which proposals, answer was made 



23 



that y Sallary of the Ministers by y English, 
ussually is Levyed by a Taxe & that about two 
yeares since y" Minisf was paid by the townes- 
men. 

Whereuppon it was Replyeth that in case y« 
Necessity should Requiere a taxe itt should be 
much better that a Levy be made upon any 
other accompt as for the Maintenance of a Min- 
ister & secondly that y** Ministers about two 
years since where paid by the Townesraen was 
onely occasioned by the tyme of Warre, when 
the Government was not able to Maintaine them, 
and therefore it was then likewise proposed to 
continue but for one or two j'eares, by a volun- 
tarie Contribution, finally uppon severall Debates, 
concerning j" former proposalls, itt was mutually 
condiscended unto for to Returne for advise Viz'. 

" That itt would occasion a Great discontent 
"amongst the people, to be both taxed & to pay 
" Excyse Wherefore itt is in geun^'y proposed, 
"that y" Grand Excyse should be something 
"Raised, & that an Imposition should be laid 
" uppon Rom going for Albany & Esopus and 
" that y Selling of Licq'' to the Indians should 
" be p'^mitted as it is throughout all the govern- 
" ment ; And some excyse or Imposition should 
"be raised thereuppon or otherwyse that all the 
"Excyses should be totally abolished; and a 
" Genn"' Taxe for all towne Charges be made." 
M. §• A. VI. 680-681. 

In 1671, 26th September, upon the request of 
"the Officers of y* Reformed Dutch Church in 
"this City" Governor Lovelace issued an order 
authorizing " the present Elders and Deacons & 
"those that from time to time shall succeed them 
"in their places," "to make a Rate or Taxe 
"amongst y*^ Inhabitants, and those that shall 
" frequent y" Church in the best and most conve- 



24 



" nient manner they can devise for y® Maintenance 
"of their Minister or Ministers, y" Clarke or 
" other OfiBcers of y" Church & y" poore, as also 
"for y reparacon of y Church as occasion shall 
" require." The tax levy was to be submitted 
to the Governor for his approbation. General 
Entries : IV. 47. 

An order of the Assizes in October, 1672, en- 
forced the observance of the laws of the govern- 
ment as to parochial churches and declared "that 
"although divers persons may bee of different 
"judgments, yett all shall contribute to the Min- 
" ister established and allowed, which is noe way 
"judged to be an infringement of the Liberty of 
" Conscience, to which they may pretend." 

In 1671, 21 December, the deacons of the 
Dutch Chh. complained that they were charged 
with some of the poore of the Lutheran profes- 
sion notwithstanding a collection is made for the 
poore in the Lutheran Chh. as also that the dea- 
cons of the s'^ Lutheran Chh. do not according to 
custom in a Publicq Meeting deliver up their 
accts how they have disposed of the money so 
collected," &"^. 

The Court order each Chh. should for the 
future maintaine their owne poore, and the Lu- 
theran Deacons should yearly deliver up their 
accounts in a public meeting in the same manner 
as in the reformed Christian Chh. of this City 
until this day hath beene practicable " &". M. &■ 
A. VI. 750. 

In 1675, March 1st. Governor Andross issued 
an order authorizing the Elders & Deacons of 
the Dutch Church to levy some arrears of volun- 
tary subscriptions made before his arrival, by 
" severall in this Citty and Precincts, for Mainte- 
" nance of their Minister or Ministers, Church 
" Officers, Poore, and other Church charges," 



26 



and " to dispose and apply the same as hath been 
accustomed by their Predecessors," &^ They 
were required to keep " a due and faire Acco' 
" thereof in writing." The order further re- 
quired the said subscribers to pious uses to make 
payment accordingly. Wai-rants, Orders, Sf^. III. 
59. 

At a Councell, June 7, 1675, it was 

Ordered, that y" Courts of Sessions of y" sev- 
erall Ridings of Long Island be enjoyned to 
make enquiry how y Lawes have been putt in 
Execucon, in relation to j" Church and Church 
affaires, and that y*' respective Townes who shall 
be found defective, bee forthwith ordered to do 
their dutyes therein : In default whereof to be 
proceeded against at y next Gen''^' Court of As 
sizes, according to y"' Severity of y" Law upon 
y'' Acco' for their Contempt. Council Minutes, 
III. 40. 

June 28, 1675, Order continuing all Magis- 
trates and Officers, civil and military in their re- 
spective places, &^ taking Oath of Allegiance to 
his Majesty & Fidelity to the Duke, and to act 
by their established lawes as formerly : 

"And that all now and hereafter enjoy their 
" Church Priviledges & liberty of their Con- 
" sciences. Unless such Persons as live scandal- 
" ously, or disturbe y'' publicque peace of the 
" Government, by acting contrary to y** Lawes 
" thereof." Council Minutes, III. 43. 

At the Court of Assizes in October of the 
same year, the church affairs being taken into 
consideration, and particularly the maintenance 
of the ministry, it was ordered for that object, 
that besides the usual Country Rate, a double 
rate should be levied on all those towns in which 
there was not already a sufficient maintenance 
for a minister. 

4 



26 



In the Records of the Court of Sessions at 
Gravesend, 21 Dec. 1676, " the Church affairs as 
" to Ministers or Readers & Schooles for Children 
" moved to be considered : Gravesend noted to be 
"the most remiss herein." Conveyances Kings 
Co. Lib. I. Reverse side. 

Notwithstanding the ample legal provision on 
the subject some of the towns appear to have 
been backward in carrying the laws into effect. 
In 1677, a petition was presented to the Gen. Court 
of Assizes, in which the first prayer is " that the 
" Maintenance and Encouragement for y Ministry 
" may by someway be established & that such En- 
" couragement may bee that there may bee a 
" Minister in each respective town that wants." 
It is noticeable too, that the next item is "that 
"there may also be some way established for 
"the Maintenance of a Schoolmaster in each 
" town." 

The response of the Court appears to have 
been that the necessary order was made " last 
" Cort," with respect to the Ministry, while the 
school question was referred to the Towne and 
the Court of Sessions. Vol. MSS. xxvi. 122. 

In his answer to enquiries about New York in 
1678, Governor Andros gave the following ac- 
count of the religious state of the Province 

" There are Religions of all sorts, one Church 
" of England, several Presbiterians and Independ- 
"ants, Quakers and Anabaptists, of several sects, 
"some Jews, but Presbiterians & Indipendants 
" most numerous and substautiall. 

" The Duke maintains a chapline w^*" is all the 
" certain allowance or Chirch of England, but 
" peoples free gifts to y« ministry, And all places 
" oblidged to build Churches and provide for a 
"minister, in w'^'' most very wanting, but presbi- 
" terians and Independents desirous to have and 



27 



" maintaine them if to be had, There are about 20 
" churches or Meeting-places of w'-^ above halfe 
" vacant theire allowance like to be from 40" to 
"70" a yeare and a house and garden. Noe 
" beggars but all poor cared fFor. If good Min- 
" isters could be had to goe theither might doe 
"well and gain much upon those people.' Col. 
Doc. III. 262. 

The Charter of Liberties and Privileges 
granted by the Duke of York in 1683-4, the 
Great Charter of New York, made ample pro- 
vision for liberty of conscience to all Christians, 
and provided also for the maintenance of the 
Ministry of all Christian churches. 

The former settlements and subscriptions for 
this purpose in the towns on Long Island were 
confirmed, as well as those which might subse- 
quently be made in the same way — "two thirds 
"of the voices in any towne," concluding the 
minority, who were " to be regulated thereby." 

The same Charter recognized all the respective 
Christian churches then in practice within the 
City of New York and the other places of this 
province as privileged churches, so established 
and confirmed by the former authority of the 
Government — and proceeded to confirm them in 
all their rights as such "from henceforth forever." 
The existing contracts for the maintenance of the 
Ministry were also ratified, and all contracts for 
the future were to be of the same power. 

Throughout the Province, in default of pay- 
ment by towns or individuals, a summary pro- 
cess was authorized for the collection of the 
assessments and subscriptions, by a warrant from 
any Justice of the county "to levy by distresse 
"with Costs and Charges," when the amount was 
under forty shillings, or " otherwise to be recov- 
" ered as the law directs." 



28 



Dongan's administration of this law was such 
as to elicit the praise of the Governor of New 
Plymouth, whose Address & Petition to the King 
in 1G87, contains the following passage, referring 
to the established law for the maintenance of 
the ministry — 

" And so it is practiced under your majesty's 
" Government of New York, where the Governor 
"there shows himself of a noble and praise- 
" worthy mind, by taking [care] that all the 
" people in each town do their duty in maintain- 
"ing the minister of the place, though himself 
" of a [difierentj persuasion from their way." 
Hinckley Papers: M. H. 8. Coll. IV. v. 180. 

When Dongan sent Captain Palmer and Mr. 
Graham to Connecticut in 1687 to induce them 
to surrender their charter, and to urge them to 
consent to be annexed to the Government of New 
York — among the advantageous terms offered 
was the following item — 

*' The Clergy to be provided for sufficiently — 
"hee y' has least in this Govern' receives £(30 
« per annum " Col M88. 35, 73. But the dele- 
gates found " them obstinate not to surrender to 
" the King." Col. M88. xxxv. 64. 

Among other privileges of these churches, they 
appear to have been exempted from taxation. In 
1684, the Lutheran Congregation presented a 
petition to the Governor & Council, pleading 
their privileges, &". They allege that they had 
been assessed, although the Calvinists had not, 
and their petition is to be released, &". The 
opinion of the Council was, Sept. 6, 1684, "that 
" the house appointed for the Lutheran Minister 
"should be as free and exempted from taxes, as 
"that of the Dutch and French ministers" and 
their petition was remitted with this opinion to 
the Mayor and Aldermen of the city. Col. M88. 
xxxi. 173. Doc. Hist. III. 246. 



29 



In 1683, when the people were first admitted 
to take part in legislation, an Act was passed for 
the defraying of the publique and necessary 
charge of each respective Citty, Towne and 
County throughout the province and for main- 
taining the poore and preventing vagabonds. 
This act provided for the annual election of 
Commissioners for the supervising the publique 
affairs and charge of each respective City, County 
and Town, and specially recognizing " the custom 
" and practice of his Ma'"^" Kealme of England 
"and all the adjacent colonies in America" to 
take care and provide for the poor, charged the 
Commissioners with that duty. The act pro- 
vided securities against the importation or intro- 
duction of stranger poor. Any person not having 
a visible estate, or a manual craft or occupation, 
coming into any place within the province, was 
obliged to give security, not to become charge- 
able within two years, and captains of vessels 
bringing passengers into this province, were re- 
quired to report them to the chief magistrate of 
the place, within 24 hours after their arrival. 

The Commissioners appointed under this Act 
succeeded the " overseers " of the Duke's Laws, 
and were followed by the " Supervisors " of 1703. 
Gov. Dongan, in his Report on the State of the 
Province, in 1687, says " every Town and County 
" are obliged to maintain their own poor, which 
"makes them bee soe careful that noe Vagabonds, 
" Beggars nor Idle Persons are suffered to live 
" there." He adds " But as for the Kings nat- 
"ural-born subjects that live on Long Island & 
" other parts of the Government I find it a hard 
"task to make them pay their Ministers." Col. 
Hist. III. 415. 

It was a constant instruction to the Colonial 
Governors to endeavour to secure due provision 



30 



for the maintenance of the ministry, and always 
with special intention and regard to the service 
of the Church of England. The ecclesiastical ju- 
risdiction of the Bishop of London was recog- 
nized, excepting in the collation to Benefices, 
granting licenses for marriages and probate of 
wills, which were reserved to the Governor or 
Commander in chief for the time being. 

Among the earliest suggestions from Governor 
Sloughter and his Council to the Assembly in 
1691, came that of a suitable provision for a 
Ministry in every Town and its maintenance, 
and An Act for that purpose was prepared and 
ofiered to the Consideration of the Assembly by 
the Governor. 

The Assembly appear to have been sensible of 
the propriety of the provision proposed, and in 
their list of several bills sent to the Attorney 
General to be drawn up (18 Apl. 1691) the first 
in order is 

" A Bill for settling the Ministry, and allotting 
"a Maintenance for them, in each respective City 
"and Town, within this Province, that consists 
"of forty families and upwards." 

Mr. George Farewell was sent by his Excel- 
lency to supply the Attorney General's place in 
drawing up the proposed bills — took the minutes 
and Heads of the divers bills on the 20 April, 
1691. On the same day, a Recommendation from 
divers Freeholders, in respect to Mr. Edward 
Slade, Minister, to ofiiciate as Pastor or Minister, 
in this City was read, and referred to fiis Excel- 
lency himself, as Ordinary, and the only proper 
judge, in this Matter. On the 1st. of May, Mr. 
Farewell's bill for the Settlement of the Ministry, 
&". was read the first time, and not answering 
the intent of this house, is rejected, and ordered 
that another bill be brought in. Geo. fi'arewell's 



31 



Bill of Costs, 20 May, 1691, charged for drawing 
the following bills " all wch were drawn by mee 
"alone" — A Bill for settling the Ministry, A 
Bill to appoint Scboolemasters, A Bill to regu- 
late abuses on the Lord's Day, and a Bill for 
raising £2000— £3.0.0. and the following "in 
"wch Mr. Emott assisted — for my part" £.2.0.0. 
A Bill of Indemnity — A Bill to ease People 
scrupulous in Swearing — and a Bill for estab- 
lishing the Revenue— Co^. MSS. 37, 117 and 118. 
The same bill gives the fees as theire Matys 
Counsell in the Leisler prosecutions, &=. 

At the next session, August 23, 1692, it was 
ordered that a bill may be drawn for the better 
observation of the Lord's Day, and that each 
respective Town within this province have a 
Minister or Reader, to read Divine Service. 

Soon after Gov. Fletcher's arrival, at his first 
meeting with the Assembly summoned by him, 
24 Oct. 1692, he recommended a provision for 
the support and encouragement of an able Min- 
istry. At their second meeting, 22 March, 1693, 
he renewed his recommendation, referring to his 
previous message on the subject, and adding " I 
" do not understand that you have made one step 
" towards it : therefore recommend it to your 
"particular care this sessions." 

On the 1st April, 1693, the Assembly ordered 
that the Committee formerly appointed for the 
settling the Ministry and Schoolmasters, do 
forthwith proceed upon that business. 

On the 3d April, 1693, the Committee ap- 
pointed for the settling of a Ministry throughout 
the Province, desire that they may have further 
Time, for the Consideration thereof, whereupon 
it was 

Ordered, That they make report of their Pro- 
ceeding to this House, on Thursday Morning 
next [6th April] 



32 



The deficiencies in the Journal of this session 
include the record of the further proceedings on 
this subject, but it is apparent that the Governor's 
views were not promoted by the action of the 
Assembly; and at the close of the session, he 
told them 

" Gentlemen : The first thing that I did recom- 
"mend to you at our last meeting, was to provide 
" for a Ministry ; and nothing done in it. There 
" are none of you but what are big with the 
" privilege of Englishmen, and Magna Charta, 
"which is your right; And the same Law doth 
" provide for the religion of the Church of Eng- 
" land, against Sabbath bi caking, swearing and 
" all other profanity. But as you have made it 
"last and postponed it this Sessions, I hope you 
"will begin with it the next meeting and doe 
"somewhat towards it efiectually." 

In the same year, he summoned a new assem- 
bly and in his opening speecli, renewed his 
former recommendation — as " always the first 
"thing I have recommended, yet the last in your 
"consideration. I hope you are all satisfied of 
" the great necessity and duty that lies upon you 
" to do this, as you expect His blessing upon 
"your labors." 

On the same day (12 Sept. 1693) the assembly 
promptly responded by the following order : 

Ordered, That Major Merrett, Mr. Theale, 
Major Wessels, Mr. Van Ecklen, Captain Jack- 
son, Mr. Kutsen, Col. Pierson, and Mr. Still well 
be a Committee to agree upon the easiest and 
best Methods, for the calling and settling a Min- 
istry, in each respective precinct throughout the 
Province, and make report thereof tomorrow 
morning at 8 o'clock. This committee consisted 
of one from each County — Ulster and Dutchess 
being at that time represented together. 



33 



The report of the Committee was duly pre- 
sented at 8 A. M. Sept. 13., read and ordered to 
be recommitted to the said Committee for fur- 
ther consideration till 2 o'clock p. m. — when the 
Committee desired till tomorrow for their report. 
On the next day, 14th, their report being read 
several Debates "did arise thereon, so it was re- 
committed to the said Committee for further 
consideration. On the 15"" the report was read 
and approved, and an Order was made that a bill 
be brought in for the establishing of it [the 
Ministry] accordingly. 

On the 19"^ Sept. 1693, Mr. Speaker brought 
in the bill for settling the Ministry, &", which 
was read a first and second time, and ordered to 
be committed to the former Committee of the 
whole house. And on the 21 Sept. 1693, the 
Bill, &% with its Amendments &% was read a 
third time, and passed and ordered to be sent up 
to the Governor and Council, for their consent. 

On the same day, the Council ordered the bill 
for settling a Ministry to be read a second time. 
[I find no record of its first reading in the printed 
minutes, nor in the original MS. at Albany]. 

The entry immediately following shows that the 
Executive Council were not at all satisfied with 
the Assembly — and advised its dissolution, or 
for the present a prorogation. 

On the 22'* the Council ordered the bill read a 
third time and it was assented to by the Governor 
and Council, with this amendment ; That in the 
last sheet between the lines 3'* & 4"' be inserted 
(and presented to the Governor to be approved 
and Collated). 

The bill with amendment was then sent to the 

representatives to desire their consent thereunto. 

The Gov.^s haste was so great, that he instructed 

the messenger to tell the Eepresentatives to de- 

6 



84 



spatch the business before them, time being pre- 
cious and a charge growing upon the Country. 

They replied that they had no business before 
them, that they waited his Excellency's pleasure 
and that they would immediately despatch this 
present bill with amendment. 

This they accordingly did and on the same day 
in the P. M. meeting of the Council, the Clerk 
of the Council acquainted that body that the 
Representatives had refused to amend the bill. 
They considered the amendment, but could not 
agree thereunto, but prayed that it might pass 
without that amendment, having in the drawing 
of the bill, had a due regard to that pious intent 
of settling a Ministry, for the benefit of the 
people. 

The Gov. forthwith summoned the House to at- 
tend in the Council Chamber — where he informed 
them that he had passed the Revenue Bill and 
the Ministry Act ; reproved them for their stub- 
bornness in the matter of the Revenue — and pro- 
ceeded to prorogue them in the words following : 

" There is also a Bill for settlmg a Ministry 
" in this City and some other Countyes of the 
/' Government ; in that very thing you have 
" shown a great deal of stiflFnesse. You take up- 
" on you as if you were dictators. I sent down to 
" you one amendment of three or four words in 
"that Bill, which tho' very immateriall yet was 
" positively denyed. I must tell you it seems very 
" unmannerly ; there never was an amendment 
" yet desired by the Council board but what was 
" rejected ; it is the sign of a stubborn ill temper 
" and this have also passed. But 

"Gentlemen 

" I must take leave to tell you if you seem to 
" understand by these words (calling the Minis- 
" ter) that none can serve without your collation 



35 



or Establishment, you are far mistaken ; for I 
have the power of CoUatingor suspending any 
Minister iu my Government by their Maties 
Lres Patents : and whilst I stay in the Govern- 
ment, I will take care that neither heresy, se- 
dition, schism, nor rebellion be preached 
amongst you, nor vice and profanity encour- 
aged. It is my endeavour to lead a virtuous 
and pious life amongst you and to give a good 
Example. I wish you all to doe the same. You 
ought to consider that you have but a third 
share in the legislative power of the Gov- 
ernment and ouglit not to take all upon you 
nor be so peremptory ; you ought to let the 
Council have a share ; they are in the nature of 
the House of Lords or Upper house; but you 
seem to take the whole power in your own 
hands and sett up for everything. You have 
sitt a long time to little purpose and have been 
a great charge to the Countrey ; tenn shillings 
a day is a large allowance and you punctually 
exact it. You have been always forward 
enough to pull down the ffees of other minis- 
ters in the Government. Why did you not 
think it expedient to correct your own to a 
moderate allowance ? 

" Gentl. I shall say noe more at present but 
that you with draw to your private affairs in 
the Countrey. I doe prorogue you to the 10th 
of January next and you are hereby prorogued 
to the 10th of January next ensueing." 
The passage of the bill, however, was a source 
of some satisfaction to the church party, incom- 
plete as it was and not by any means adequate 
to their hopes. Gov. Fletcher to the Committee 
of Trade, 9th Oct. 1693, says " I have gott them 
" to settle a fund for a Ministry in the City of 
" New York and three more Countys which 



36 



" could never be obtained before, being a mixt 
" people and of different persuasions in religion.^' 
Col. Hist. iv. 57. 

A letter of Colonel Morris to the Secretary of 
the Society for Propagating the Gospel, 20th 
February, 1711, gives something of the interior 
history of this Act. He states that James Gra- 
ham, who was Speaker of the Assembly in 1693, 
drew the bill and " prescribed a Method of In- 
" duction and so managed it that it would not do 
"well for the Dissenters and but lamely for the 
" Church tho' twould do with the help of the 
" Governor and that was all : but 'twas the most 
" that could be got at that time for had more been 
" attempted the Assembly had seen through the 
" artifice the most of them being Dissenters and 
" all had been lost." 

There can be no doubt that it was the inten- 
tion of the Assembly to provide for the mainte- 
nance of the Dissenting Clergy. Such had been 
the manifest tendency of the previous legislation 
on the subject. All the Assembly but one were 
Dissenters, and the Church of England was 
hardly known in the Province. " There was no 
" face of the Church of England here till about 
" the year 1693." The Act was very loosely 
worded, which as things stood then when it was 
made could not be avoided. The Dissenters 
could claim the benefit of it as well as Church- 
men, and unless wrested from its true bearing it 
admitted a construction in their favor. Indeed 
they had good reason to claim that it was in- 
tended for them, and that they only had a right 
to it. In fact, it was arbitrarily and illegally 
wrested from its true bearing, and made to an- 
swer the purpose of the English Church party, 
which was a very small minority of the people 
who were affected by the operation of the law. 

The Act of 1693 itself is a conclusive argu- 



37 



ment against the alleged establishment of the 
Church of England in the Province of New York. 
It was not established by any law of the Prov- 
ince, nor by the Ecclesiastical Law of England 
extending over the Province, which was thus ex- 
cluded or modified by express law made by com- 
petent authority. The language of the Report of 
the Venerable Society in 1705 farther illustrates 
this point. " The Protestant Religion is settled 
" here by Act of Assembly as Established in En- 
" gland, except in Suffolk County." 

In a " Letter from a Gentleman in New York 
" to his Friend in the Country, ^^ (published in 17 — ) 
referring to a petition to the Assembly, and a 
design to make Philipsburgh provide for an 
Episcopal Church, etc. the writer says — " the 
" ridiculous Pretence that the Church of En- 
" gland is Established in this Province, which 
" they know to be false, and have actually been 
" (sic) admitted to be so by establishing a Epis- 
" copal Church in the City of New York inde- 
" pendent of the Church of England, in which 
" the Assembly was most shamefully deluded 
" by their Artifices, as appears by the Votes of 
" the House, and for which they still take money 
"from all other Denominations, contrary to all 
"Equity and good Conscience, especially consid- 
" ering what enormous Estate they have of their 
"own, for which the best part of their title is 
" their possession." Broadside in the Force Col- 
lection. 

An A CT for Settling a Ministry, and Raising a 
Maintenance for them, in the City of New- York, 
County of Richmond, Westchester, and Queen's- 
County. 

Pass'd the 22d of September, 1693. 

WHEREAS Profaneness and Licen- 
- - tiousness hath of late overspread 

this Province, for Want of a settled 



38 



Ministry throughout the same : To the End the 
same may be removed, and the Ordinances of 
GOD duly administred; 

I. Be it Enacted hy the Governor, and Council, 

and Bepresentatives convened in 

Protestant Minij.ter3 General Assembly, and by the 

to be mducted, &c. to ^ ,, .. „ ., " mu x • 

have Care of Souls in Authority of the Same, ihat m 
New York, &c. each of the respective Cities 

and Counties hereafter men- 
tioned and expressed, there shall be called, in- 
ducted, and established, a good sufficient Protes- 
tant Minister, to officiate, and have the Care of 
Souls, within one Year next, and after the Publi- 
cation hereof, that is to say ; In the City of New 
York, one ; in the County of Richmond, One ; in 
the County of Westchester, Two ; One to have 
the Care of Westchester, Eastchester, Yonkers, 
and the Manor of Pelham; the Other to have 
the Care of Bye, Mamarenock, and Bedford; in 
Queen's County, Two ; One to have the Care of 
Jamaica, and the adjacent Towns and Farms; 
the Other to have the Care of Hampstead, and 
the next adjacent Towns and Farms. 

,. II. AND for their respective 

The respective tt, j. -r, • ^ n .-i 

Sums to be raised Iiincouragement, Be it further 
for their Mainte- Enacted by the Authority afore- 
^^clth to the Min- *"^^» T^'^sit there shall be annu- 
isters of New York, ally, and once in every Year, in 
ButtotheCountrj every of the respective Cities 

Miuisters Country i :;•■ , . r • -i i 

Produce. ^od Counties aioresaid, assessed, 

levied, collected, and paid, for 
the Maintenance of each of their respective Min- 
isters, the respective Sums hereafter mentioned, 
that is to say ; For the City and County of New- 
York, One Hundred Pounds ; for the two Pre- 
cincts of Westchester, One Hundred Pounds, to 
each Fifty Pounds, to be paid in Country Pro- 



39 



duce, at Money Price ; for the County of RicTi- 
mond. Forty Pounds, in Country Produce, at 
Money Price ; and for the two Precincts of 
Queeri's County, One Hundred and Twenty 
Pounds, to each Sixty Pounds, in Country Pro- 
duce, at Money Price. 

III. AND for the more or- 
The method of rais- ^ , Raising the respective 

ing the maintenance. ,, .-^ " ~ , S..-. . 

Maintenances for the Minis- 
ters aforesaid. Be it further Enacted by the Au- 
thority aforesaid, That the respective Justices 
of every City and County aforesaid, or any 'iVo 
of them, shall every Year issue out their War- 
rents to the Constables, to summons the Free- 
holders of every City, County, and Precinct 
aforesaid, together, on the second Tuesday of 

January, for the chusing of Ten 

Vestrymen and Vestry-Men, and two Church- 
Church- Wardens lobe -trr y 1 x1 -IT 

ch-,sen. " ardens ; and the said Jus- 

tices and Vestry-Men, or major 
Part of them, are hereby impowered, within Ten 
Days after the said Day, or any Day after, as to 
them shall seem convenient, to lay a reasonable 
Tax on the said respective 

Who shall lay a tax, (.j^j^^^ Counties, Parish, or Pre- 
cincts for the Maintenance of the Minister and 
Poor of their respective Places; and if they 
shall neglect to issue their Warrants, so as the 
Election be not made that Day, they shall re- 

^ , , . „^ , spectively forfeit Five Pounds, 

Or forfeit £5 each. '- ^ "ivi r ii_ • n 

current Money of this Prov- 
ince : And in Case the said Freeholders duly 
summoned, as aforesaid, shall not appear, or ap- 
pearing, do not chuse the said Ten Vestry-Men 
If Church Wardens ^cd two Church-Wardens, that 
&c. are not chosen Jus- then in their Default, the said 
tices to lay the Tax or Justices shall, within Ten 
Days after the said second Tuesday, or on any 



40 



Day after, as to them shall seem convenient, lay 
the said reasonable Tax, on the said respective 
Places, for the respective Maintenances aforesaid; 
And if the said Justices and Vestry-Men, shall 
neglect their Duty herein, they shall respective- 
^ ^ . „^ ^ ly forfeit Five Pounds, current 

Forfeit £5 each. at „ r -a 

Money aforesaid. 

IV. And be it further Enacted hy the Author- 
ity aforesaid, That such of the Justices and Vea- 
try-Men, that shall not be present at the Time 
appointed, to make the said Taxes, and therefor 
be convicted, by a Certificate under the Hands of 
such as do appear, and have no suiEcient Excuse 
for the same ; shall respec- 
pearkigtoiay tax £5.' ti^^ly forfeit Five Pounds, cur- 
rent Money aforesaid : And a 
Koll of the said Tax so made, shall be delivered 
into the Hands of the respcc- 
Tax Roll to be deiiv- tive Constables of the said 

ered to the CoDstables r,-,- ^^ ^- t> • i i 

to levy Taxes. Cities, Counties, Parishes and 

Precincts, with a warrant 
signed by any two Justices of the Peace, im- 
powering liim or them to levy the said Tax ; and 
upon Kefusal, to distrain, and sell by publick 
Outcry, and pay the same into the Hand of the 
Church-Wardens, retaining to himself Twelve 
Pence per Pound, for levying 

topl^TLS''^"''"^^'!^^'"^^^: ^""^ if any Person 
shall refuse to pay what he is 
so assessed, and the said Constables do strain 
for the same; all his Charges sliall be paid 
him, with such further Allowance for his Pains, 
as the said Justices, or any of them, shall 
judge reasonable; And if the said Justice or 
Justices, shall neglect to issue the said Warrant, 
he or they respectively shall forfeit Five Pounds 
current Money aforesaid ; and if the said Con- 
stables, or any of them fail of their Duty herein, 



41 



, , they shall respectively forfeit 

And on Constables Trt- , r> j x at 

for neglect of Duty. -^^"^ Pounds Current Money 

aforesaid. And the Church 
Wardens so chosen, shall undertake the said 

Office, and receive and keep a 
ke?p"rccoS'"^'^' good Account of the Monies or 

Goods levied by Virtue of this 
Act, and the same issue by Order from the said 
Justices and Vestry- Men of the respective Cities, 
Counties, Precincts, and Parishes aforesaid, for 
the Purposes and Intents aforesaid, and not other- 
wise : And the Church-Wardens shall, as often 
as thereunto required, yield and give a just and 

true Account unto the Justices 
Justices, &c!'°'''" ^ and Vestry-Men, of all their 

Receipts and Disbursements ; 
And in Case the said Church-Wardens, or any 
of them, shall neglect their Duty therein, they 

shall respectively forfeit Five 
£5lach': ^'°''"^' "^ Pounds, current Money afore- 

said, for every refusal. 

V. And be it further Enacted by tJie AiMior- 
ity aforesaid, That the said Church-Wardens, in 

their respective Precincts afore 
MS:fer?qra?teriy.said, shall, by Warrant, as afore 

said, pay unto the respective Min- 
isters, the Maintenance aforesaid, by four equal and 
quarterly Payments,underthe Penalty and Forfei- 
tures, of Five Pounds current Money aforesaid, for 
each Neglect, Refusal, or Default : the one Half of 
all which Forfeitures, shall be disposed of to the 
Use of the Poor, in the respective Precincts 
where the same doth arise, and the other Half 
to him or them that shall prosecute the same. 

VI. Always provided, and be it further Enacted 
by the Authority aforesaid. That all and every of 
the respective Ministers, that shall be settled in 



42 



the respective Cities, Counties, and Precincts 
aforesaid, shall be called to offi- 
cauid'bythev°est';.«iate in their respective Pre- 
Men, &c. cincts, by the respective Vestry- 

Men, and Church- Wardens afore- 
said. And, Always Provided, That all the former 
Agreements, made with Ministers throughout 
this Province, shall continue and 
affect former Agree- remain in their full Force and 
ments with Minis- Virtue ; any Thing contained 
'*" herein to the contrary hereof, 

in any wise notwithstanding. 

In accordance with the Act of Assembly, the 
Freeholders of the City of New York appeared 
at the City Hall on Tuesday the ninth of January, 
1694, and proceeded by a majority of votes to 
elect their first Church Wardens aud Vestrymen. 
Nicholas Bayard and John Kerfbyl, Church 
Wardens, and Robert Darkins, Robert Walters, 
William Jackson, Jeremiah To thill, John Crooke, 
John Spratt, Isaac Van Flack, Mathew Clarkson, 
Isaac D'Riemer and Johannes DePeyster, Vestry- 
men. All which was duly performed in the 
presence of James Graham and William Merritt, 
Justices of the Peace. 

The Board however displayed no very great 
zeal in the discharge of their duties. Two or 
three ineffectual meetings of the Justices and 
Vestrymen took place, and on the 29th of Janu- 
ary, the meeting was "adjourned till Monday 
"next att nine of the Clock to appear at the ring 
"of the Bell upon the penalty in the act, &"=. 
"provided." On that day, the 5th February, 
1694, upon reading the act, they unanimously 
agreed that a tax of One Hundred Pounds should 
be " assessed, levyed, collected and paid by all 
"and every y Inhabitants and Residenters within 



43 



" this City and County for y" Maintenance of a 
"Good sufEcieiit Protestant Minister according 
"to the directions in the s"' Act." They further 
provided for the preparation of tlie necessary 
estimate and tax-roll to be prepared and returned 
to the Clerk of the Vestry l)y the first day of 
March, and that a tax should also be made for 
the relief of the poor who were fit objects of 
charity, of whom a list was to be made. 

On the same day, a meeting of the Church 
Wardens and Vestrymen was hold and adjourned 
till the following Monday " att nine of the Clock 
" att y*" first ring of tlie Bell." Of this adjourned 
meeting, February 12th, 1G94, the following is 
the record : all the members being present : 

"Upon reading an Act of Gen' Assembly en- 
" tituled an Act for settling a Ministry and 
"raising a Maintenance for them in the City of 
"New York, &•=. itt was proposed to this board 
*' what Perswasion the person should be of by 
" them to be called to have the Care of Souls and 
"Ofiiciate in the office of Minister of this Citty, 
"by Majority of Votes itt is the opinion of y* 
"hoard that a Dissenting Minister be called to 
" officiate and have the Care of Souls for this 
" Citty as aforesaid." 

At this stage of the proceedings, the then 
resident Chaplain of the Forces, Mr. John 
Miller, endeavoured to secure the benefit of the 
living established by the act, but without success. 

On the 15th. February, 1693-4 llis Excellency 
did acquaint the Council that Mr. John Miller, 
Chaplain to the two companys of Granadeers did 

Sroduce to his Excellency a Lycense from the 
Light Reverend the Lord Bishop of London for 
him to discharge the office of a Chaplain in New 
Yorke in America and by virtue thereof demanded 
induction into the living lately Established by 



44 



Act of Assembly for the maintenance of a Prot 
estant Minister in the City of New Yorke, and 
others in some other Countyes within this Prov- 
ince Ilis Excellency demanded the opinion of 
this board whether the said John Miller be by 
that lycense or faculty entituled to this living. 
The Council nemine contradicente are of opin- 
ion that the said John Miller is not thereby 
entituled to that living. Council Minutes : VII. 
54. 

On the first day of March, according to ad- 
journment, the Justices & Vestrymen met and 
"y" Committee appointed for y'' bringing a Role 
" and Estimate of all j" Real & personal Estates 
" of & every j" Inhabitants & Residents within 
" this City, &■=. doe desire further time for y^ Ef- 
" fecting the same." Whereupon, it was ordered 
that the same " be brought in by Thursday next 
" nine o' clock." They met on the 8th March, ac- 
cordingly, and again adjourned for three weeks. 
But no record appears of a meeting at that time, 
and at the next meeting recorded (October 10th, 
1694) nothing appears to have been done. On 
the 3d November, a meeting was held, when 
" the Mayor acquainted them the reason of his 
" calling them together was to inform them that 
" there was an Act of Assembly requiring them 
" with the Justices to Lay a Reasonable Tax 
" for y Maintenance of a Minister & the poor 
"of this Citty whereupon itt was Objected by 
" several of the vestrymen that the time of Call- 
" ing of the Minister being Relapsed itt was not 
" Convenient to Raise a Tax att this time, upon 
" consideration whereof the Mayor did put the 
" Question whether they would Pursuant to the 
" said Act Raise a tax for y® Maintenance of the 
" Minister and the poor. Carried by the Vestry- 
" men Nemine Contra Dicente in the negative." 



45 



Oa the 7th. of January, 1695, the last day of 
their term of office — they came together again 
and "The Mayor again put the Question to this 
" board whether they would Raise a Tax For y" 
" Maintenance of y*^ Minister & y" poor pursuant 
" to y« Act of Gen" Assembly in that Case Pro- 
" vided. 

" Itt is y opinion of the whole Board (the 
" Mayor excepted) that they Cannot Raise the 
" Money till a Minister be Called, upon w'='' the 
" Mayor publickly Protests against y^ Opinion of 
" y" Justices & Vestrymen & says he is ready to 
" comply with & execute with what is required 
" in the s^ Act." 

Charles Lodwick was at this time Mayor. 

The second election under the Act took place 
on the 8th of January, 1695. Johannes Kip and 
Jacobus Cortlandt were elected Church Wardens, 
and Philip French, Theunis D:Key, Robert Sin- 
clair, Jeremiah Tothill, Brandt Schuyler, Robert 
Darkins, Johannes DePeyster, Isaac DeRiemer, 
William Jackson, and John Spratt, Vestrymen. 
There was no change favorable to the views of 
the English Church party — the board continu- 
ing to be as " Dutch and dissenting " as before. 

One of the first effects of the new election was 
to excite the wrath of Governor Fletcher, whose 
zeal was great in the interests of the English 
Church Establishment; and the records of the 
Council betray its efiects. On the 10 January, 
1695, His Excellency did acquaint the Council 
that there is an open contempt seems to be 
thrown upon an Act of Assembly for the estab- 
lishing a ministry, &<=, by the inhabitants of this 
city in choosing such for church Wardens and 
Vestrymen as either refuse or neglect to put the 
Act in execution and desired their opinion what 
is proper for the remedy thereof. 



46 



It is the opinion of the board neraine contradi- 
cente that persons offending against the said Act 
ought to be prosecuted according to the form 
thereof at their Maties charge and that the Re- 
ceiver General may advance money out of the 
Revenue for that purpose. Council Minutes : VII. 
113. 

The new board met on the 19th day of Janu- 
ary, 1695, at the call of the Mayor, wlio informed 
them of their election and its due return by the 
justices and thereupon withdrew. The board 
then agreed to meet on the next Saturday, 26th 
January, at eight o'clock in the morning, " in 
" order For the Calling of a Minister pursuant 
" to the directions of Act of Gen" Assembly in 
" that Case made and Provided." This they ac- 
cordingly did, and the following is a copy of the 
entry on their record of the proceedings : all 
the members being present. 

" Pursuant to an Act of Gen" Assembly, En- 
" tituled An Act For the settling a Ministry & 
" raising a Maintenance for them, &% the Church 
" Wardens and Vestrymen above named have 
" this day mett & nemine Contra Dicente Called 
" Mr. William Vezey* to officiate in the same 
"place according to the directions in the said 
" Act contained." 

This official record of his call to officiate and 
have the care of souls under the Act of 1693 is 
the earliest notice of William Vesey in connec- 
tion with the church in New York, where he 
was afterwards so well known and distinguished 
as Minister of the City of New York, Rector of 
Trinity Church and Commissary of the Bishop 



* Mr. Vesey's Christian name seems not to have been familiar 
at the time of his appointment. A blank was left for it in the 
original entry, which was afterwards filled in. 



47 



of London. The later portions of his career are 
measurably familiar to the students of our early 
history, but the interesting particulars of his 
first appearance and the singular circumstances 
attending his call to the ministry in Now York 
and the establishment of Trinity Church, have 
hitherto been among the " hidden things " of our 
historic past. 

William Vesey (or Veazie, as the name was 
more generally spelt in New-England) was born 
in Braintree, in the Colony of Massachusetts, 
in 1674. His family was probably of English 
origin and had been at that time long established 
in Braintree. 

Mr. Vesey graduated at Harvard College in 
1693. "We have no particulars of his prepara- 
tion and early training, or the circumstances 
under which he determined to devote himself to 
the ministry. In later years some of the Veseys 
of Braintree appear as Church Wardens, Ves- 
trymen, &"=.of the Church there in correspond- 
ence with the Venerable Society in England, and 
a letter from William Vesey and several others, 
from Braintree, September 1, 1710, contains the 
following passage — " Mr. Vesey, Minister of the 
"Church of New York when he was a youth can 
"say that he with his parents and many more 
" were communicants of the Church of England 
" and that in their fomily at Braintree divine ser- 
" vice was daily read." Dr. Rawks's MSB. His 
father was an avowed Jacobite, and one of Bell- 
omont's letters in 1699 to the Lords of Trade was 
accompanied with a copy of the indictment for 
"uttering desperate words against his Majesty," 
upon which he says that Vesey was "tryd, con- 
" vict and sentenced to stand in the Pillory.' 
The Court Records at Boston show that " Wil- 
"liamVeazey of Braintree was presented and 



48 



" held to bail for £500— having said that K. 
"James was his lawful prince and that he did 
" not know how this King came to y^ Crowne 
" and that the Crowne belonged to heirs by suc- 
" cession." This was in October, 1696. Records : 
1686—1700 p. 75. Bellomont wished to have 
the Reverend Mr. Vesey displaced and spared 
no pains in enforcing upon the authorities in 
England the " ill principles of the father " as 
probably shared by the son ; and in the heated 
party contests of that period, the latter appears 
to have been either too much or too little of a 
politician to avoid their violence. 

But whatever may have been the earliest in- 
fluences upon his mind from his family associ- 
ations and connections, there was littleor no op- 
portunity and still less encouragement for any 
man to seek advancement in the way of the 
Church of England. The atmosphere of Massa- 
chusetts was very unfavorable, and the machin- 
ery of education was entirely controlled by men 
who were of all things most hostile to Episcopacy. 
The list of graduates of Harvard College prior to 
1700 must furnish a very brief list of men who 
were at any time connected with the Episcopal 
church. 

Mr. Rapelye says, in his Sketch of Mr. Vesey, 
communicated for Spr ague's Annals of the Amer- 
ican Pulpit, that he pursued his theological 
studies under the direction of the Rev. Samuel 
Myles, Rector of King's Chapel, Boston. No 
authority is given, and the statement can hardly 
be true, for Dr. Myles was absent in England 
from July 1692 to July 1696— that is, for more 
than a year before Mr. Vesey graduated until 
after he is known to have exercised the functions 
of the Ministry (in 1695) upon Long Island. 

A more consistent account of his education is 



49 



given in a remarkable letter, written about 1714, 
and printed in the Documentari) History III. 
264. This account states that " he had received 
" his education in Harvard College under that 
" rigid Independent Increase Mather and was 
"sent from thence by him to confirm the minds 
" of those who had removed for their conveni- 
" ence from New England to this Province, for 
"Mr. Mather having advice that there was a 
" Minister of the Established church come over 
"in quality of Chaplain of the forces, and fear- 
"ing that the Common Prayer and the hated 
" Ceremonies of our Church might gain ground, 
" he spared no pains or care to spread the warm- 
" est of his emissaries through this Province." 
This account of his training is confirmed by 
Chief Justice Atwood who, in a Memorial to the 
Lords of Trade, refers to him as " bred a dissen- 
"ter"; [Col. Hist. V. 104) and Gov. Hunter who 
states that " he was formerly an Independent 
" Minister in New England." [Ibid. 311). 

Mr. Vesey was undoubtedly engaged in the 
work of the ministry in the Province of New 
York, as early as some time in the year 1694. 
He must have been a popular preacher, and in 
his occasional visits to the city of New York, he 
gave such satisfactory evidence of his ability in 
his public ministrations — as paved the way to 
his subsequent settlement there. Humphreys 
says of him in connection with the Church es- 
tablishment in N. Y. " Mr. Vesey was then in 
" the Place, but not in holy Orders ; a gentleman 
" highly approved of and beloved by every one." 

It is certain that Mr. Vesey preached at Hemp- 
stead to the congregation there, mostly Dissent- 
ers from the Church of England, but some 
Dutch, about 1695. Miller: p. \\. The church 
at Hempstead was in a somewhat unsettled con- 
7 



50 



dition, and its historian says there are " no au- 
" thentic accounts of a settled ministry in this 
" town for a great number of years." Prime : 
282. The Rev. Mr. Thomas, who was sent 
thither as a Missionary of the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts in 
1704, wrote home in 1709, "'tho the Place had 
" been settled above 60 years before his coming, 
" and the People had some sort of dissenting 
" Ministers ; yet for above 55 years, the Sacra- 
"ment had never been administered there; the 
" oldest there could not remember to have seen 
" or heard of its being celebrated," Humphreys : 
223. 

But whatever conclusion might be reached 
from all these circumstances taken by themselves 
— there can be no doubt whatever that at this 
time, in New York, he was selected and called 
as a dissenting clergyman — there being a full 
attendance of the Wardens and Vestrymen and 
the vote nemine contradicente. Six of the ten 
vestrymen were of the board in the previovis 
year (12 Feb. 1694) when they declared it to be 
their opinion that a Dissenting Minister should 
be called — and the wardens were both Dutch. 

Whether this action of the Board was hastened 
or stimulated by the threats of prosecution from 
the Governor and Council, we cannot decide. 
But it was followed not long afterwards by fur- 
ther proceedings^which show that the Church 
Wardens and Vestrymen were disposed to fortify 
their position and maintain their right to call a 
dissenting minister, in spite of such formidable 
opposition. 

On the 12 April, 1695, A petition of the 
Church Wardens and Vestrymen for the City of 
New York was read in the Assembly, and upon 
consideration thereof, it was declared, that " it is 



51 



"the opinion of this House, that the Vestrymen 
" and Church Wardens have power lo call a dis- 
" seating Protestant Minister, and that he is to 
"be paid and maintained according as the Act 
"directs." On the 13th April, 1695, the Gov. 
called the attention of the Council to these pro- 
ceedings. " His Excell did show the Council a 
" Peticon which was given in to the Assembly 
" by the Church Wardens and the Resolution of 
" the Assembly thereupon signed by the Speaker ; 
"which is: That by virtue of the Act for set- 
"tling a Ministry, they have power to call a dis- 
" seating minister from the Church of England, 
" and compell all persons to contribute towards 
" his maintenance, pursuant to said Act." Coun- 
cil Minutes : 76. The Council were of opinion 
" that there is no good to be expected from this 
" Assembly " and advised a prorogation. Ibid. 
The Governor was not slow to follow their ad- 
vice, — and upon the prorogation which followed 
the same day, he said to the Representatives, 

" Gentlemen, 

" You have proceeded to give your opinion or 
" interpretation of that Act of Assembly which 
" provides for a Ministry in this city and two 
" other Counties, upon a peticon presented unto 
" you, and you say, that the Church Wardens 
" and Vestrymen may proceed, by that Act, to 
" call a protestant minister dissenting from the 
" Church of England and raise the money for his 
" maintenance. Not to tell you that there is no 
" Protestant Church admits of such officers as 
" Churchwardens and Vestrymen but the Church 
" of England. It is out of your province to take 
" upon you to explain an Act which you did not 
" make ; the laws are to be interpreted by the 
" Judges." 

Smith says of the petition above mentioned 



62 



that it was " a petition oi five churchwardens and 
"vestrymen^' &■=. ^.117. Upon what author- 
ity does not appear. This is not material ,as 
there can be no doubt that a large majority of 
the existing board were of the same opinion. 
Probably " five " was a error of the press for 
" the," as those who are familiar with the hand- 
writing of the historian and the facility of error 
in proof reading will readily understand. Dr. 
Berrian copied the statement from Smith. 

In 1695, one of the Long Island towns at- 
tempted to obtain legislative relief. A Bill for 
exempting Newtown, in Queen's County, " out of 
" the Pains, Penalties, Forfeitures and Demands " 
in the Act of 1693, was presented, read a first 
time and ordered a second reading on the 3d of 
April, 1695. It was read a second time and 
committed on the next day. On the 5th, the re- 
port of the Committee, about the Minister of 
Newtown was brought in and read, approved and 
ordered to be engrossed with its Amendments. 
On the 9th, it was read the third time and passed, 
and ordered to be sent up to the Governor and 
Council for their assent. This however, it 
failed to receive — the session being somewhat 
sharply terminated a few days later.* 

* There is an interesting reference to Newtown in the pro- 
posal of the Bishiip of London to send Chaplains to New York, 
November 18, 1689. " It is humbly proposed to yu"' Lordship 
"that two Ministers of the Church of England be sent to New 
" York in America with free passage thither and a competent 
'• allowance for the space of two years out of the Revenue of 
" that place and instructions given to his Ma''"' governour to 
'' settle a sufficient number of acres (as a Glebe) not yet dis- 
" posed of in the parishes where they are to officiate. New- 
" toiLni in Long Island and a parish in Sopus having ear- 
" nestly desired to have Ministers sent them. An ingenious 
" schoolmaster in the City of New York is of great use and im- 
" pcrtauce." P. R. 0. Am. & West Indies. 



53 



But although called as a dissenter, by a dis- 
senting vestry in 1695, Mr. Vesey does not appear 
to have been settled at this time. Nearly two 
years elapsed before the matter was adjusted, 
and still a third went by before he became the 
actual incumbent of the living provided for the 
Minister of the City of New York and assigned 
to the resident Rector of Trinity Church. No 
further action was taken by the dissenting Church 
Wardens and Vestrymen, who appear to have 
been discouraged, if not intimidated by the per- 
emptory action of the Governor against their 
sympathetic Assembly, and at the next election 
a new set of men appear in office, who were 
evidently in the interest of that party, if indeed 
they were not themselves " the Mannagers of the 
" Aifaires of the Church of England in the Citty 
"of New-York."* It was at this time that the 
Dutch Church were favored with a liberal charter 
from Governor Fletcher. That Church had long 
desired to obtain an act of incorporation, and 
had moved in the matter before, without success. 
The original petition of the Minister, Elders and 
Deacons (or what remains of it) is in the Colonial 
M88., xl., 121. The order in Council of 9th. 
January, 1696, is endorsed on the petition. The 
Charter is dated May 11, 1696. For his conde- 
scension in this matter, Governor Fletcher ac- 
cepted a considerable present of plate. Col. 
Hist. IV. 463. It was found expedient, if not 
necessary to obtain a confirmation of this Charter 
— which was accomplished by an act of assembly 
12 December, 1753, confirmed by the King, 
25 February, 1755. 

* Humphreys states, in h.\5 History of the Venerable Society, 
referring to tlie Ministry Act of 1693, that "it was some time 
" before there was a Vestry comjiosefl of men of such principles, 
" as would choose a Chm-ch of England minister. About the 
'' year 1697, there was such a Vestry." 



54 



On the 14th January, 1696, Col. Stephen Van 
Cortlandt and William Pinhorne were elected 
GhurcMoardens and Capt. Ebenezer Wilson, Capt. 
Lawrence Reade, Capt. William Morris, Mr. 
Samuel Burte, Mr. James Evetts, Mr. John 
Crooke, Mr. Giles Gaudineau, Mr. John Van 
Cortlandt, Mr. Dirck Vanderburgh and Mr. Na- 
thaniel Marston, Vestrymen. At the meeting of 
Justices and Vestrymen, on the 22d January, 
1696, they unanimously agreed to levy and collect 
a tax " for y maintenance of a good suflBcient 
" Protestant Minister," in accordance with the act 
of 1693. As provision had already been made 
for raising one hundred pounds for the main- 
tenance of the poor, by virtue of another act of 
the General Assembly,* no poor tax was levied 
by this board for the year 1696. A committee 
was charged with the duty of going through all 
the Wards uf the City and making " an Estimate 
" of the Estates of all and every the Inhabitants 
" and Resideuters within the said Citty, and make 
" a Role thereof, and return the same to y Gierke 
" of the Vestry, on or before the second Tuesday 
"of February" following. They were likewise 
to " Desire of the Church Wardens and Vestry- 
" men what sum of Money will be Needfull to be 
"Raised for y'' Year ensueing for y" Purposes 
"aforesaid." 

The Board then adjourned until the second 
Tuesday in February, but they do not appear to 
have met until Friday, the 21st February, 1696, 
when "by Majority of Votes" it was agreed 
that " the sum of One Hundred Pounds Current 
" Money of New-Yorke" should be raised for the 
Maintenance of the Minister for one year. The 

* An Act to enable the City and County of New-York, to 
relieve the Poor, and defray their necessary and publick charge. 
Passed the 8d. of July, 1695. 



55 



estimates of the Committee of Assessment wei'e 
brought in, examined and approved ; and 1^)6 
Justices were ordered to issue warrants for t'le 
collection of the tax, in pursuance of which t'le 
Constables were to proceed, complete their wri-k 
and make returns on or before the 25th day of 
April. The following is a copy of the assess- 
ment. 

By Vertue of an Act of Gen" Assembly Entit Ued 
an Act for the Settling a Ministry & liais- 
ing a Maintenance for them in the Ci'iy of 
New Yorke, &". wee have made an iissess- 
ment of y Estates Real and Personal of all 
& Every the Freeholders Inhabitants & 
Residenters within the said Citty for y 
Raiseing of one hundred pounds att y'' Rate 
of one halfe penny "}■' pound for ;■'" Main- 
teinauce of a Minister for one yef'r to Offi- 
ciate & have y" Care of Souls v^ithin the 
said Cittv. Pursuant to the said Act. 
Viz't. February y«' 21st, 1695 [1096J. 



East Ward 


8420 


15 


11 


08 


South Ward 


16421 


34 


05 


11 


Dock Ward 


12129 


25 


05 


02.^ 


West Ward 


6172 


12 


17 


02" 


North Ward 


5353 


11 


03 




Bowry Precinct 


2644 


(■-5 


10 


02 


Harlem Precinct 


929 


01 


18 


08. i 



Will ^Ierrett 
RoB^ Darkins 
Ja^Ies Evetts 
Sam^^ Burte 
Giles Gaudineau 
Will Morris 
Ebenezer Willson 
Law" Reade 
John Crooke 
Nathaniel Marston 



I 



56 



As we have said before, the Church of England 
was little known in the Province at this tirae^ — 
its adherents being very few in number, princi- 
pally those connected with the administration of 
the government. The English garrison had a 
Chaplain allowed upon the establishment. The 
old Church in the Fort continued to be used by 
the Dutch inhabitants for their service in the old 
way. After the Dutch service, the Chaplain 
read service according to the Liturgy of the 
Church of England, to the Governor and the 
garrison in the same place. This wa,s all the 
footing that the Church of England had in the 
Province prior to the Act of 1693. Boc. Hist. 
III. 265. Domine Selyus, in a letter to the 
Classis of Amsterdam, October 28th, 1682, says 
" We and the English inhabitants use the same 
" church. They perform their services at the 
"conclusion of ours, by reading the Common 
" Prayer. They have a clerk, but no minister, 
" except 6ne who marries and baptizes in private 
"houses, but does not preach." Mwj^hij'a Me- 
moir of Selyns : p. 94. 

In 1693, Governor Fletcher finding the Old 
Church (King's Chapel) in the Fort " ready to 
" fall down to the danger of many lives thought it 
" convenient to pull it down." He had previously 
persuaded the Dutch Church to erect a new 
edifice for themselves out of the Fort, which 
they did in 1693. Doc. Hist. III. 265. Domine 
Selyns' letter to the Classis, 12th October, 1692, 
quoted by Mr. Murphy in his memoir of Selyns, 
p. 119, makes it 1692. " In this year of troubles, 
"there has been built, outside of the fort, a new 
" Dutch Church, of stone, and larger than the old 
" one.'' At the meeting of the Legislature, 12 
Sept. the Governor addressed the Assembly on the 
subject and said " if you will give something 



57 



•towards the rebuilding of it, we will all join in 
"see good a worke. If his Maty were not en- 
" gaged in an expensive warr, I should not doubt 
" to have orders to rebuild it at his own charge." 

In October, 1694, tlie Governor, with advice 
of the Council, presented to the Assembly a letter 
from their Majesties on the subject with a request 
that they would provide for rebuilding the 
Chapel accordingly. The House very promptly 
furnished him with their opinion " that his Ex- 
" cellency send his Orders to the several Officers 
" in each respective County throughout the Prov- 
"ince, for a free Contribution," for the object 
proposed. 

The Governor and Council responded (22 Oct.) 
that the message was not to entreat the advice of 
the Assembly in what manner his Excellency 
should proceed in effecting his Majesty's pleas- 
ure, but to know of the Assembly what they will 
contribute by establishing some fund for that 
purpose, " it being the opinion of the Board that 
" the most loyall and proper way for all their 
" Majesties subjects freely to contribute, is by 
" Act of Assembly." The Assembly concluded 
to provide for raising Six Hundred Pounds, of 
which Fonr Hundred and Fifty were to be em- 
ployed for the rebuilding the Chapel. 

Dirck Van Burg's petition to be paid for build- 
ing the Chapel, etc. 14 March, 1696, is in Doc. 
Hist. in. 246. 

In April, 1696, the Governor again recom- 
mended the subject to the attention of the Assem- 
bly, urging provision for the completion of the 
work. The Assembly declined to proceed until 
the Accounts and Debts of the Government were 
laid before them, but promised " upon the perfect 
" knowledge of the State of the Debts of the 
" Government, the building of the Chapel will be 



58 



" also then taken into consideration." From 
the statement of the joint Committee of the 
Council and Representatives, it appears that the 
sum of £450 had been paid " To the building 
" the Chapel." 

But the eiForts to promote the interests of the 
Church of England and to utilize the tax pro- 
vided by the Ministry Act took another shape. 
It had already been settled that the Chaplain of 
the Forces vras not entitled to the maintenance 
provided by the Act, and measures were now 
taken to organize a new English Church. 

On the 19th March, 1696, ten members of the 
Church of England (some of whom were at 
this time Vestrymen of the City of New York) 
petitioned the Governor and Coucil for license 
to purchase a small piece of land without the 
north gate of the City of New York, between 
the King's Garden and the burying ground, on 
which to erect a Church for the use of the 
Protestants of the Church of England. Leave 
was granted and on the 23d July following 
they were further empowered to collect funds 
to carry on and finish the Church which they 
had begun to erect and build. Doc. Hist. HI., 
247-48. 

These are the earliest documents of the history 
of Trinity Church — the first formal tokens of the 
existence of the congregation which was the 
germ of that great Corporation since known as 
Trinity Church. The records of the Corpora- 
tion do not preserve the proceedings of " the 
" Mannagers of the Affairs of the Church of 
" England in the City of New Yorke " prior to 
the 28th June, 1697 — so that nothing is to be 
learned from that source concerning their his- 
tory before the charter. Their petition for a 
grant of incorporation and the maintenance pro- 



59 



vided for the Minuter by the Act of 1693 is 
extant among the Colonial Manuscripts at Albany 
(Vol. xli., 64,) though badly damaged by time. 
It is dated May 6, 1697, aud printed in Doc. 
Hist. III., 248. Their prayer was granted, and 
the Royal Charter of May 6, 1697 was duly 
drawn and executed under the great seal of the 
Province. It has been frequently reprinted, and 
its terms are familiar to all who have given any 
attention to the history of Trinity Church. The 
most extraordinary feature in it is the assign- 
ment of the benefit of the Ministry Act of 1693 
to the Rector of the Parish of Trinity Church 
created by the Charter : 

" And our Royal Pleasure is and we by these 
"presents do declare that the said Rector of the 
" said Parish Church is a good sufficient Protes- 
" tant Minister according to the true intent and 
" meaning of the said Act of Assembly made in 
" the aforesaid fifth year of our Reigne entitled 
" an Act for the settling of a ministry, &,"., and 
" as such We do further of our like speciall 
" grace certaine Knowledge and meer motion 
" give grant Ratifye endow appropriate and con- 
" firm unto the said Rector of the Parish of Trin- 
" ity Church within our said City of New Yorke 
" and his successors for ever the aforesaid yearly 
" maintainance of one hundred pounds directed by 
" the said Act of Assembly to be yearly laid as- 
" sessed and paid unto the said sufficient Protes- 
" tant minister for his yearly maintenance, to 
" have and to hold the said yearly maintenance 
" of one hundred pounds aforesaid unto him the 
" said Rector of the Parish of Trinity Church 
" within our said City of New Yorke and his 
" Successors to the sole and only proper use ben- 
" efit and behoofe of him the said Rector of the 
" Parish of Trinity Church within our said City 



60 



" of New Yorke and his Successors forever. And 
" We doe by these presents strictly charge re- 
*' quire and command the Church Wardens and 
" Vestrymen yearly constituted elected and ap- 
" pointed by the aforesaid Act of Assembly made 
" as aforesaid that they faithfully truly and with- 
" out fraud annually and once in every year for- 
" ever levey assess and collect the said yearly 
" maintenance of one hundred pounds current 
" money aforesaid according to the rules directions 
" and clauses in the said Act of Assembly men- 
"tioned and under the pains and penaltyes there- 
" in contained and that the said Church Wardens 
" mentioned in the aforesaid Act of Assembly do 
" annually in four quarterly payments pay the 
" said yearly maintainance of one hundred pounds 
" leveyed assessed and collected as aforesaid unto 
"the said Rector of the Parish of Trinity Church 
" and to his successors for ever as of right they 
" ought to do vpithout any delay, lett, hindrance 
" refusall disturbance or molestation vrhatsoever 
" as they and every of them will answer the con- 
" trary under the pains and penaltyes in the said 
" Act of Assembly ordained. And Ww further 
" declare that upon any neglect or refusall of the 
" said Church Wardens aad Vestrymen (appointed 
" by the said Act) of their levying assessing col- 
" lecting and paying the said yearly mainte- 
" nance of one hundred pounds as aforesaid 
" that it shall and may be lawfull for the said 
"Rector or incumbent of the said Parish for 
" the time being to prosecute the said Church 
" Wardens and Vestrymen in an action of debt in 
" any of the Courts of Record within our said 
" province wherein no Essoine, protection or 
" wager of law shall be allowed anything con- 
" tained in the said Act to the contrary hereof 
" in any wayes notwithstanding." 



61 



There can be no doubt that these provisions of 
the instrument were illegal, and probably the 
charter itself was altogether void. It was an ar- 
bitrary exercise of an assumed prerogative, which 
was absolutely in defiance of the laws of England 
as well as the Province, and could not have been 
maintained for an instant in the Courts, had it 
been brought to the test. Sensible of its worth- 
lessness, those who profited by its pi-ovisions 
sought and obtained a legal act of incorporation, 
a few years afterwards, which was the true 
Charter of Trinity Church — the Act of Assembly 
of 1704. This act carries in itself the evidence 
that due legal incorporation had been previously 
wanting, and that Trinity Church was up to that 
time incapable of taking a legal title. Various 
fictions have been invented from time to time, in 
connection with the suits against the Church, by 
both parties ; but they have little or no histori- 
cal importance at this time. 

Lord Cornbury's own account of the motive 
for the act of 1704 is explicit enough. Writing 
to the Lords of Trade, June 30th, 1704, a letter 
to accompany the recent acts of the Assembly, 
which he transmitted, he says : 

" The reason for my ascenting to the first of 
" these Acts [An Act granting sundry priviledges 
" and powers to the Rector and Inhabitants of 
*' the City of New Yorke, of the Communion 
" of the Church of England as by law estab- 
"lished,] is because the Rector and Vestry of 
" Trinity Church have a charter from Coll: 
" Fletcher, when he was Gov' here, and they 
" have been told that Charter is defective, so they 
" applyed to me for one that might be mora suf- 
" ficient ; I told them / did not perceive that hy 
" my Commission I have any power to grant 
" Charters of incorporation, and that I would not 



62 



" venture to do it without such a power, some 
" time afterwards they came to me again, and 
" desired I would give them leave to offer a Bill 
" to the General Assembly to be passed into an 
" Act for settling the Church, I told them 1 did 
"consent to it, because by that means the Queen 
"would have the matter fairly before her, and I 
" most humbly intreat Your Lordpp' favourable 
" representation of that Act to Her Majesty that 
" it may be confirmed." Col. Hist. IV. 1114. 

On the 2d November, 1696, a meeting of the 
Church Wardens and Vestrymen of the City of 
New York was held, all the members being pres- 
ent excepting Mr. Samuel Burte. At this meet- 
ing they made and recorded the following im- 
portant proceeding : 

" Wee y"^ Church Wardens & Vestry men 
" Elected by Virtue of y<^ said Act having read a 
" Certificate under the hands of the Reverend M"' 
" Samuel Myles, Minister of y" Church of En- 
" gland in Boston in New England, and M"^ Gyles 
"Dyer and M'' Benjamin Mountfort, Church 
"Wardens of y^ said Church of the Learning & 
" Education, of the Pious, Sober, & Religious be- 
" haviour and conversation of M'' William Veazy 
" and of his often being a Communicant in the 
" Receiving y'^' most holy Sacrament in the said 
" Church, have called the said M' William 
" Veazy to ofiiciate, and have y care of Souls in 
" this Citty of New Yorke. And y" said M-" Wil- 
" liam Veazy being sent for, and acquainted with 
" the Proceedings of this board, did return them 
" his hearty thanks for their great favor & afl'ec- 
"tions shewd unto him, & did Assure them that 
" he readily Accepted of their Call & would with 
"all Convenient Expedition Repair to England, 
" and Apply himselfe to the Bishop of London 
"in Order to be Ordained according to the Lit- 



63 



"urgy ofy* Church of England, and would re- 
" turn to his Church here by the first Convenient 
" Opportunity." 

This is the earliest record of Mr. Vesey's ad- 
hesion to the Church of England.* It is but just 
to infer that his course was dictated by honora- 
ble sentiments. There were not wanting in his 
lifetime those who could impugn his motives of 
action, and the violence of party charged him 
with inconsistency, a base regard for temporal 
interest, and want of fidelity to the principles to 
which he was supposed to be pledged by his birth 
and training among the Independents of New 
England : but a generous spirit cannot fail to 
sympathize in his emancipation from narrow 
prejudices and to applaud as judicious a con- 
formity so amply vindicated by the success of 
his prolonged subsequent ministry. 

Three days after he had accepted this second 
call to the Ministry of the City of New York, 
on the 5th November, 1696, the Justices and 
Vestrymen held another meeting, at which they 
adopted the following imjiortant resolution : 

" Whereas there is Ninety Five Pounds in the 
" hands of v*' Church Wardens, Raised by Vir- 
" tue of an Act of Gen" Assembly for y Main- 
" tainance of a Ministry ; and Whereas M^ Wil- 
" Ham Veazy lately called to y" Ministry of this 
" Citty is not yet Ordained According to the 
" Liturgy of the Church of England, but hath 
" Assured the Church Wardens and Vestrymen 

* Domine Selyns, in a letter to the Classis, 30th September 
1696, mentions two English Churehes as follows: "For the 
" two English chm-ches in this city which have been formed, 
"since our new chm-ch was built, — one of our churches being 
" in the fort and the other in the city, and both of them very 
"neat, curious and all of stone, — thereare two Episcopal Clergy- 
" men who by arrangement preach in our church after my 
" morning and evening service, and live with us in all friencl- 
" ship." Murphy's Memoir, p. 126. 



64 



*' that he will Kepair to London with all Con- 
" venient Expedition, and Apply himselfe to y" 
" Bishop of London for his Ordination, and Re- 
" turn hither by the first opportunity ; where- 
" upon itt is Considered by this Board, that such 
" Parte of y said Money that lyes in the Cliurch 
" Wardens hands, & the 8"^ M^ William Veazy 
" shall have Occasion for, be lent to him, for the 
" Defraying his Charges in the said Voyage for 
" y Procuring of his said Ordination, & y* ho 
" give his bond for the same." 

It is a significant fact which appears from 
the record that " Jacobus V. Cortlandt and 
" Brandt Schuyler, Esq's two of y Justices De- 
" scent from the said Order." The dissent how- 
ever of these stubborn Dutchmen was of little 
importance, and at a subsequent meeting on the 
9th of November, 1696, at wliich they were not 
present, it was duly 

" Ordered, that the Justices and Vestrymen 
" doe direct a Warrant to the Church Wardens 
"for to pay to M^ William Veazy, (called to 
" ofl&ciate as Minister of this Citty) the sum of 
•' Ninety five Pounds, Curr' Money of New Yorke ; 
" itt being Money now in their hands Raised by 
"virtue of an Act of Gen" Assembly for j" 
" Maintenance of a Minister, and itt being to be 
" lent to the said M^ William Veazy towards 
" the Defraying his Expenses in his Voyage for 
" England for j" Procureing his Ordination ac- 
" cording to y Liturgy of y" Church of England 
" and that he give Bond for the same." 

The election of Churchwardens and Vestry- 
men for the year 1697 continued the power in 
the hands of the Church of England party, 
there being no change among the Vestrymen. 
Capt. Thomas Wenham and Robert Lurting 
were elected Churchwardens, who not long after 



65 



were constituted and appointed by the Charter 
the first Churchwardens of tlie Cor]joration and 
Parish of Trinity Churcli. Seven of the ten 
vestrymen were also named among the first Ves- 
trymen of Trinity Church. 

There was no meeting of tlie board until the 
18th of November, when after providing for a 
Poor tax of Two Hundred and fifty Pounds — the 
records show that 

' ' The Mayor of ye Citty haveing j)roposed y^ 
" Raising of One Hundred Pounds pursuant to ye 
' ' Act of Asseml)ly for ye Maintenance of a Min- 
" iste.rfor\Trinity Church, for this Citti/, for this 
" present year. It is ye opinion of ye justices & 
' ' Vestrymen that they do not proceed to ye 
' ' levying of that summ till they hear of ye 
"Ministers Induction." 

We have no particulars concerning Mr. Vesey's 
voyage or stay in England, excepting those of 
his official appointments. Merton College, Ox- 
ford, bestowed on him, Ijy diploma, the honorary 
degree of Master of Arts, July 8th, 1097. The 
license of the Bishop of London to Mr. Vesey — 
' ' Gulielmo Vesey, Clerico . . . ad peragen- 
" dum Officium Parochi in Ecclesia de New York 
" in partibus Occidentalibus,'' etc., is dated on 
the2dof August, 1097. Original MS. AlsoN. T. 
Wills: II. 100-104. On the same day, in ac- 
coi'dance with the Act of Uniformity, he sub- 
scribed the acknowledgement or declaration of 
his conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of 
England, as hj law established, in order to he 
admitted to the ministerial function in the City 
of New York. He was made a Deacon and 
Presbyter of the Church of England on the same 
day— August 2, 1697. The certificates of the 
Bishop of London are recorded in the N. Y. 
Wills: II. 100-104, 

9 



60 



Returning to New York, he amved in De- 
cember, 1697. The Churchwardens and Vestry- 
men were speedily convened, and at their meetmg 
on Friday, the 24th day of December, 1697, all 
the membei-s being present, the following pro- 
ceedmgs are recorded : 

Att a meeting of ye Church 
Citty of I Wardens and Vestrymen of ye 
New Yorke \ said Citty on Fryday the 24th 
day of Decemr . 1697. 

Present : 

Church- Wardens : 

Thomas Wenhajvi, 
Robert Lurting, 

Vestry Men : 

Ebenezer Willson, John Crooke, 

William Morris, Samuel Burte, 

Nathaniel IVIarston, Direck Vanderburgh, 

Jajies Evetts, Giles Gaudineau. 
John Cortlandt, 

Mr. William Vezey being arrived here lately 
from London delivered to this Board two lettere, 
from the Right Reverend father in God Henry 
Ld. Bishop of London w^i contaiued as followeth 
(vizt): 

Angi 10th, 1697. 
Gentlemen, 

Your choice was very welcome to me, and I 
hope I have Answered all that you Expected 
from me ; for I doe Assm'e 3^ou itt has and ever 
shall be my Constant Care to Serve you to ye 
uttmost of my power, Neither shall any choice 
be more Acceptable to me than what you make 



67 



yr selves. I thank you with all my heart that 
you have Pitched upon a Person whom I take 
to l)ee soe Every way fitted for y service. I 
pray God to Direct liim in all the performances 
of his duty to ye Edification and Comfort of you 
all. And I pray you to be assured tliat Nothing 
shall be wanted on my parte to answer all that 
lies m my poAver to doe for you : that itt will be 
therefore your fault if any parte of my Service 
be deficient to ye best of my Ability. As to 
your Bells I will use my utmost Endeavour to 
procure them for you ; though you cannot but 
know that the great Scarcity of Money here 
wdth us att Present will make itt Impossible to 
Accomplisli such a Worke suddenly. In the 
meantime I sliould l)e glad to know whether 
you have considered what Defect you are able to 
make up of yourselves, and whether there are 
Carpenters witli you sldUful enough to hang 
them up, I pray God to reward you for you^ 
pious care you have already taken which shall 
want no Encouragement from the utmost care of 
GeutQ 
Your most assm-ed friend and faith- 
full Servant. 

H : London. 
To 

TJie Vestry and Churcli. Wardens 
of the Church att New YorTce. 

London, August 16th, 1697. 
Gentlemen, 

I doe most heartily thank you for 
yom- choice you have made of Mr. Vesey to be 
your Muuster ; for I take him to be a man every 
way capacitated to doe you Service by his Tslm- 
istry, and therefore I have most gladly Conferr'd 



68 



holy orders upon him, and Now Recommend him 
back to your favorable Reception Praying to 
God that the Exercise of his function amongst 
you may powerfully work to the Salvation of 
every one of you, and of all that liearhim. And 
I beseech you to believe that I am most sincerely 
purposed to omit no ocasion of doing you all 
the service that lyes in my way and power Nor 
can you oblige me more than laying your com- 
mands for that purpose, upon 

Gentlemen 
Your most assured Friend 
and hearty Servant 

H : London. 
To the Oentlemen of New Yorl-e 
The Church Wardens & Vestry of 
the Church there established 

The before Letters being read, and the great 
Character and Recommendation his Lordship is 
please to give of M^ William Vezey, the Board 
are of opinion that a fitter Person cannot be had 
to officiate, and have the care of Souls within 
this Citty than the said William Vezey : and 
therefore pursuant to the directions of an Act of 
Geul. Assembly of tliis ])rovince entituled An 
Act for the settling a Ministry and Raising a 
Maintenance for them in the Citty of New Yorke 
this Board d<je unanimously call* the said Mr 
William Vezey to officiate and have the care 
of Souls within this City of New- Yorke & the 
said William Vezey pereonally came before this 
Board and informed them he was ready to exe - 
cute the Function he was called to when he 
shall be Inducted into the same. 



• It will be observed that this was the third time Mr. Vezey 
was actually called under the Act of 1693, by the City Vestry. 



69 



Whereupon itt is ordered that this board doe 
forthwith present the sd William Vezey & Peti- 
tion his Excellency for his Induction to the said 
Ministry accordingly. 

Tho. Wenham, Will : Morris, 

ROBT. LtTRTING, DiRECK VANDERBXJRfin, 

Ebenezer Willson, Samll Burtt, 

James Evetts, Johan : Cortlandt, 

Giles GAUDrNEAU, Jno Crooke. 
Nathll: ]\L\rston, 

To his Excellency Benjamin Fletcher, 
Capt. Genii & Goveinour in Chiefe of his Majty'a 
Province of New Yorke, &c 

The humble Petition of ye Church- 
Wardens and Vestry Men of ye 
Citty of New Yorke 
Most Jnimhly SJiewetJi : 

That by an Act of Genii Assembly of this 
Province, entituled an Act for j^e settling a Min- 
istry and Raising a IMaintaiuauce for then in 
the Citty of New Yorke &c : Itt is Directed 
that there shall l)e Called, Inducted and Estab- 
lished a Good Sufficient Protestant Jlinister to 
Officiate and have ye Care of Souls within the 
said Citty, & whereas M'" William Vezey was for- 
merly by us called to the said Benefice but could 
not be Inducted thereto for want of l^eing or- 
dained in Priest's Orders, which after a trouble- 
some Voyage by him made to England, & great 
Charge to your Excellencies Petitioners he hath 
Obtained ; and now returned hither, who wee 
have again called to ye said Ministry, and most 
humbly pray your Excellency will be most 
favorably Pleased wath all Convenient Expedi- 
tion to induct him to ye same, in Order he may 
Exercise his function accordingly. 



70 



William Mokris, Thomas Wenham, 

John Cortlandt, Robt. Lurting, 

DiRECK Vanderburgh, Ebenezer Willson, 
Samuel Burte, James Evetts, 

Giles Gaudineau, John Crooke, 

Nathaniel ]VL\rston. 

Fletcher was not slow to move on his part, 
and on the next day (Christmas) 25 December, 
1697, Mr. Vesey was duly inducted into his par- 
ish oi Trinity Church. The documents are re- 
corded in JV. Y. Wills M. 5. pp. 262-3. We 
print them in the order observed *by the clerk. 
It is said that the ceremony of induction was 
performed in the Dutch Church in Garden street, 
a fact to which these documents bear testimony 
in the names of two of the Dutch clergy as sub- 
scribing witnesses. 

Benjaminus Fletcher Provinciae Novi Eboraci hi 
America Strategus et Imperator ac Ejusdem 
Vice Thalassiarcha &c universis & Singulis 
Rectoribus Vicarijs Capellarijs Curatis Clericis 
& ministris quibuscunque in et per totam pdict 
Provinciam ubilibet constitutis ac etiam 
Thomae Wenham & Rol^erto Lm-ting Templi 
Trinitatis in Civitate Novi Eboraci pro hoc 
tempore Aedilibus Salutem Cum dilectum in 
Christo Gulielmum Vesey Clericum ad rec- 
toriam sive Eccam proalem Novi Eboraci in 
America Templi Trinitatis in diet provincia 
jam vacantem jiraesentatum rectorem ejusdem 
rectoriae sive Eccae Proalis in et de eadem 
Institui Vobis coujunctim & divisim committo 
& firmitcr injungendo mando quatenus 
eundum Gulielmum Vesey Clericum sen pro- 
curatorem suum legitimum ejus nomine & — 
in realem actualem & corporalem possessionem 



71 



ipsius rectoriae sive Eccae Proalis Novi Ebor 
pedict jurumque & ijertiiieutium suor universor 
conferatis inducatis iuducive faciatis & defen- 
datis inductum et quid in praeniissis feceritis 
me aut alium quendain jiidicem in hoc parte 
competcnteni quenicunque dcbito (cum ad id con- 
gi'ue fueritis requisiti) ccrtificatis seu — cer- 
tificet illo vestrum qui praescn hoc meum man- 
datum fuerit Dat sub sigillo prae- 

rogativo diet Provinciae 25^ Die Decembris 
Anno Domini 16970 . David Jamison Ji' D: 
Secry. 

250 Decembris, 1697o 

Virtute in fra scripti mandati in praesentia rever • 
endi Domini Henrici Selyns Eccae Belgicae 
in Civitate Novi Eboraci ministri <k, reverendi 
Domini Joliis Peter, Nucella Verlji Dei min- 
istri infra nominati Thomas Weuham & Rob- 
ertus Lurting Trinitatis Templi infra diet ^'Ediles 
contuleiunt & iuduxerunt infra dictum reveren- 
dum Gulielmum Vesey C!lericum in Templum 
Trinitatis infi-a nominatimi more & consuetudine 
solitis etj in omnia juria, & pertinentia ejusdem 
350 Decembris Anno Domini 1697° in Cujus 
rei testimonium praesentibus signavimus die 
& anno supra dictis Henricus Selyns minister 
Neo Eboraceusis Belgicus Joannes Petrus Nu- 
cella Thomas Wenham Robert Lm'tmg. 

The new edifice for Trinity Church, to the 
erection of which both the French and Dutch 
churches contributed, [Col. Hist. IV. 463,) had 
been "built and covered" before the grant of 
the charter, but it was not completed and ready 
for occupation until the spring of 1098. It was 
first opened for public worship on Sunday, the 
13th day of March, 1698. After the reading of 



73 



the morning and evening service, Mr. Vesey de- 
clared before his congi-egation, his unfeigned as- 
sent, and consent, to all, and everything con- 
tained in and j^rescribed in and by the book, en- 
titled the Book of Common Prayer. He also 
read the certificate of the Bishop of London of 
his declaration of Conformity. Certificate of 
Gov. Fletcher, 25 March, 1698. N. Y. Wills : I'l. 
100-104. 

The youthful Rector's entry upon these im- 
portant duties vras also signalized by his mar- 
riage about this time. ' ' A Lycense of marriage 
' ' was granted unto Mr. William Vesey, of tlie 
" one party, and Mrs. Mary Reade, of tlie other 
"party, the first of March, 1097-8." Wills, No. 
5, 274. It is not difficult to credit the tradition, 
which declares that this wealthy widow, with 
her connections, had taken a deej) interest in the 
concerns of Trinity Church ; and on the day 
it was first opened for pu1)lic worship, that she 
appeared in it as a bride. 



THE NEW ENGLAND SYNOD OF 1637. 

Tlie First General Synod in New England, that 
Assembly of all the elders of the Churches, which 
the General Court of the Massachusetts judged it 
necessary to call in 1637, and which condemned 
the whole brood of heresies hatched in Massachu- 
setts in the first seven years of her colonial ex- 
istence, has always been recognized as one o? the 
most important themes of her historic past. Yet it 
is a curious fact that although the proceedings were 
most carefully reported at the time in short hand, 
and afterwards written out and prepared for pub- 



73 



lication by authority, the work was soon afterwards 
as carefully suppressed, and no recent traces of 
its existence ajjpear. Pcrha})s among the hidden 
treasures of Societies and individuals round aliout 
Boston in New England, it may be still secreted 
from the eyes of the too curious inquirer — but it 
is certainly not to be found among the materials 
of history readily accessible to the student. In 
the examination of other topics of Massachusetts 
history, we have made occasional notes which are 
now brought together in the hope that they 
may help to stimulate inquiry into the subject and 
perhaps lead to the discovery of important mate- 
rials concerning it, if not the manuscripts them- 
selves to which we refer. 

The following document gives us the history of 
the official report down to the year 1648 — six years 
after the termination of the Synod : 

' ' The iruMBLE Petition of Jo : IIigginson 
' ' Sheweth 

' ' That wheras I was employed hy ye Magistrates 
"& Muiisters of ye Bay At ye S}aiod held at 
"Cambridge 1637; to take in short hand all 
' ' yt then Passed, At ye end of it I was desired to 
"drawvpa copie of all ye Materiall Passages, 
"yt it might be printed for Publicke vse, wch so 
" farre as it did belong to me, after ye Expence 
' ' of much time & paines on my Part was done, 
' ' And accordingly I Presented it to ye Court 
"held at Boston in May 1639 : where it was ac- 
" cepted by you, & ordered yt ye Ministers 
' ' should haue ye viewing of it ; & then yt it 
' ' should be printed & yt I shoulcl haue ye bene- 
" fit of ye printing of it for my paines It 
' ' being then conceiued it would amount to about 
" a 1001 : And so it was returned to me againe 
' ' by ye Court with a charge of trust, yt I should 

10 



' ' so order it yt it should be f aitlif ullie printed 
"yt no damage migiit arise from it either to 
"ye cause or ye Countrey, & then yt I should 
" houe ye profit of it It being thus ordered by 
"ye Court I left it for a time in ye hands of 
"ye ministers who had ye viewmg of it &c. 
" After Avcli I had ye occasion to vnderstand 
"ve Judgm' of diuers concerning ye publishing 
"of it &°I found yt so some were for it, yet 
" others were against it conceiuing it might pos- 
"siblv be an occasion of further disputes & di±- 
" ferences both in this Country and other paifsof 
"ve world: whervi)on I found a Scruple arise 
"in my spirit so yt ^I durst not haue a hand in 
" ye publishing of it, fearing wt might be 
"ve consequence of it ; wliervpon I resolued to 
' ' deliuer it in to ye Court againe, wcb a^corclmgly 
"I did At ye generall Court m May 1(j41 : 
" desiring of you then yt I might be free fi'om 
" vt cha?o-c or trust yt was committed to me by 
"'ve Court, & referring myself e againe to jour 
" consideration wt T should haue for my Paines ; 
" It was then considered of mutually by ye Ma- 
" Hstrates & Mmisters, & it was resolved l^pon 
"ve oTounds before mentioned) yt it should not 
" be printed, Also I was Promised yt _ I should 
" be considered by ye C\)urt for my Paines when 
"as ye treasury of ye Country should be better 
' ' furnished then at yt time it was ; The Consider- 
" ntion of ye former Passages hath encouraged me 
" ao-aine at this time to Present my selfe & the 
" case before this honourable Court yt if it may 
" be, I may receiue yt from you wcb may be suit- 
" able to ye nature of ye thing & to the bountie 
"of this Court; I shall not propound anythmg 
" to you, (Though 1 was offered 501 for it when 
"I iiadlibertie to sell it) neither w- I mention 
' ' ve Leno-th of time since ye thmg was done ; 



75 



but shall leaue it to your seulcs to doe wt you 
tbinke fitt ; And if ye treasurie of ye Coun- 
trey be not such as may well be don now ; My 
humble request then is ; yt it may Pleas 
ye Court to Pass an act Avherin a certaine 
Summe may he nominated & ]:)romised, (as if it 
be thought fitt ye Summe of 501 ; I mention it 
because I was oft' red so much ; but yet I leaue 
yt to ye Court) & yt it may be recorded in 
ye Court booke, & y* also it may be delivered 
to me vnder ye Goveruours & Deputies hands ; 
this I shall thankf ullie accept of for ye Present, 
& shall he willing to wait ye some longer time 
vutill I may conveniently recciue yt w* shall 
be rcsolvetl vpon by this honourable court, 
' • Thus Praying yt is onely Vt'ise to guide & 
prosper all your Counsells & proceedings, I take 
• my leave & rest 

' ' Your humble Servant : 

GUILFOUD " Jo : HlOGINSON 

Aug : 9 : 

1043 " 

A note in the marg-in of one of Giles Firmin's 
tracts authorizes the belief that he assisted Hig- 
ginson in his labors during the continuance of 
the Sjiiod. Referring to " that eminent Servant 
"of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hooker iu New Englaild, 
' ' who I am sure hated and condenmed your " 
\ Antino'iman^ "doctrines, when he was Moder- 
" ator each day (Mr. F.ulkley the other), of that 
" Synod, wlierem Mrs. Hutchinson's Eri-ors were 
•' condemned," he says, " I \7asat the Synod, and 
' ' did with another young Man write for the El- 
" dei-s at Night."* 



* This is probably the statement which Calamy intended to 
copy in his notice of Firmin's being at the Synod, and after- 
wards writing " iu defence of the Ministers." 



(6 



The Record of the Proceedings of the Synod in 
1637, Tvas in existence in 1743, when it was in the 
possession of one thoroughly qualihed to appre- 
ciate its value — Dr. Charles Chauncey, Boston.— 
In that 3'ear, he published his famous work ' ' of the 
' ' work which cost him the greatest pams, which 
" made the greatest clamour among the enthusiasts 
' ' of the day, and which continued to l^e accounted 
' ' one of the most pov/erf ul antidotes to the- 
' ' ological empiricism in the country, " — his Sect- 
sonable Thcmghts on the State of Religion in New 
England. He introduces the work with the story 
of the early spread of Antinomianism, giving in 
his preface ' ' an account of the Antinomians, 
' ' Familists, and Libertines, who infected these 
" Churches, above a hundred years ago," &c. 

Quoting the Short Story, Doctor Chauncey 
vouches for the account given therein of the eiTors 
condemned by the Synod, in 1637, " having had 
"Opportunity to Compare it vnth an ancient 
' ' Manuscript Copy of the Proceedings of theSynod 
" in 1 637." He c^uotes from the manuscript, among 
the reasons given for the meeting of the Synod, 
this one — that some "pretended such a New 
' ' Light as condemned all the Churches, as in a 
"Way of Damnation ; and the Difference to be 
'■ ^ m. Fundamental Points, even as wide as be- 
' ' tween Heaven and HeU. And hence it was 
"Conceived, that aU the Churches should con- 
" sider of this Matter, that, if it were a Truth, it 
" should he universally embraced : but if it were 
' ' an Error or Heresy it might lie universally sup- 
" pressed, so far as sucli a Meeting could reach." 
' ' Manuscript Copy of the Proceedings of the Sy- 
'■'■nod, i/i 1637. PageZ. 

Again referring to the condemnation of errors 
by that assemjjly, he quotes the following impor- 
tant statement : ' ' All the Churdies unanimously 



77 



' ' consented to the Condemnation of them, except 
" diverse of Boston, on(3 or two at Charlestown, 
' ' one at Sai.em, one at Plymouth, one at Dux- 
' ' BURY, two at Watertown : And although Mr. 
" Cotton set not down his Ihind as the rest of 
"the Elders did ; yet he tlius expressed himself, 
' ' in Disrelish of them, that some xoere Masphem- 
^^ ous and heretical, many erroneous and all in- 
" congruous. Manuscript copy, Page 46." 

There were alcove Eighty of these err jrs— and it 
was said ' ' That as to some of these Errors, they 
"were not held by any." Tliis was given to the 
Sj'nod, as a reason why they should not be con- 
sidered. To which, says Chauncey, the re])ly was 
in these words : ' ' That they were indeed main- 
' ' tained in the Country, lay some or other, either 
"by their Speech, or else by Writing under their 
' ' own hands, as the Elders were able to prove by 
' ' two or three or four Witnesses, and that in every 
"Particular." For this passage he says in a note 
" — This is a transcript from a Manuscript Copy I 
"liave now by me, of the Proceedings of the 
'^ Synod in 1637; in which are some things, well 
"worthy of Notice; wliich have never yet seen 
"the Light." 

Doctor Chauncey's'principal notice of this manu- 
script treasm-e is in a note towards the close of 
this Preface wherein he says : 

' ' The Disputes (preserved at large in writing) 
' ' between the Synod and Messieurs Cotton and 
" WnEEiAVTJiGHT, uj)onsome of the grand Points in 
"Agitation at that Day, would, perhaps, set some 
"of our present Controversies in a just Light. 
' ' But the inserting these would have taken up too 
"much Room. I should be g-]ad if a Compleat 
" History of those Times might be wrote. I know 
' ' there are authentick Materials sufficient for such 



78 



"a puipose: and it might be of Advantage to 
"the present, as well as Times to come." 

They would indeed have laeen ' ' gratif jang to 
" the Curious" — and corrective of errorsm history, 
from that day to this, more numerous than those 
condemned ])y the Synod of 1637. 

The official rei)ort was not the only account of 
these transactions. In the Brief Apologie wliich is 
printed as a part of the Short Story, etc., it is 
stated that "It is thought needful to make this 
' ' pulilic Declaration of all the proceedings, with 
" the reasons and grounds thereof, so farre as 
" concerneth the clearing of the justice of the 
' ' Court. As for such passages as fell by occasion, 
" and are too large to be here inserted, such as 
" desire to know them, may receive satisfaction 
" from three or foure of Boston (being Mr. Wheel- 
' ' Wright his special! friends) who tooke all by 
' ' characters (wc doubt not) will give a true report 
"thereof." 

Hutchinson printed in the Appendix to Ms second 
volume, an account of the Examination of Mrs. 
Ann Hutchinson, at the Com"t of Newton, Novem- 
ber, 1C37, taken perhaps from the " ancient manu- 
' ' script of the trial at large " to which he refers in 
the former volume as " having l^ecn preserved ; " 
but we find no special reference to the account of 
the proceedings of the Synod. Hutchinson refers 
to, and quotes the Glass/or the People of I^ew Eng- 
land, which strangly enough he attributes to Sam- 
uel Gorton. 

Samuel Groom, in liis Glass for the People of 
New England, printed in the year 1676, refers to 
one of the records of the doings of that Synod, 
from which he gives several interesting j^assages. 
He descrilies it to his readers, as ' ' a Book in 
" Manuscript, in which is all their Proceedings." 
(Pp. 4, 6.) He quotes the Sennon of Wlieel- 



79 



Wright, as preached "at Boston,'" which "caused 
" tlie combustean m Church & Comamvealth,' 
and the extracts which he gives were, until very 
recently, the most considerable portions ever given 
to the public. 

" At a Court in Boston, 1636, consisting of 
''Henry Vane, Governour, Twelve Magistrates, 
"Twelve Priests, and Thirty Tlu-ee Deputies; 
" Jo?i?i WJieehcright Avas brought into the Court, 
' ' and accused for preaching on the Fast Day* a 
" Heretical and Seditious Sermon, tending to 
" Mutiny and Disturbance. Wheelwright bids 
" them prove it by Scripture, and so did the Gov- 
' ' crnour and many others, who saw their Wicked- 
' ' uess, and abhorred and declared against their 
' ' Proceedings ; and many ]\Iembers in the Court 
' ' gave in their Testimony, That his Doctrine was 
' ' T}'iie, and according to God and Scriptvres ; 
' ' and so said John Cotton, one of the Twelve 
"Judges of the Matter, and a chief man for 
" Learning, as they accounted him. But so mad 
"was the greatest part of them, -that they would 
" proceed against Wheelwright amWiis, Doctrine, 
' ' right or wrong ; but he would not answer to 
" their ensnaring Questions, but still otfered to 
"■prove his Doctrine hy Sc?'iptures. 

' ' And now to make good my word, I'lc give 
" the Reader their own words in Court. 

' ' And just let's hear CoUicott, one of the Wit- 
" nessos against him in Court (saith CoUicott) 
"His Use in his Sermomccts, to put a Differ- 
" ence beticeen a Covenant of Worlis, anda'Cov- 
'^ enant of Grace, and, I do conceive, that he did 
" drive against the things now in question. And 
'•'■for the Light that is revealed hy the Sjjirit, he 



* Groom says the Fast was kept ou the 16th day of the 
11th month, 163T. P. 4. 



80 



' did plainly and punctually say, That in that 
' Case there icas nothing to he seen tut the Glo- 
' rious Light of the Spirit brealing in upon the 
' Soul in an absolute Promise. So far Gollicott. 

' ' But let's hear Spencer, that great Orator, and 
' New England Church Member ; may be heel 
' be more to the purpose than his Brother Colli- 
' cott : Well, come on, Spencer ; let's hear what 
' thou canst say against John Wheelwright. 

"Spencer: "Wheelwright ie«cA^s, that the Knoicl- 
' edge of our Sanctification, as well as our Justi- 
'■fication, is only by our Faith in Christ ; and 
' that in the Covenant of Grace nothing is revealed 
' hut Jesus Christ, and his Righteousness freely 
' given to the Soul, and the Knowledge of it 
' comes hy Faith : And this, saith Spencer is 
' contrary to the Doctrine preacht in New Eng- 
' land ; for, saith Spencer, it is commonly taught 
' in New England, That a man may p)rove his 
' Justification hy his Sanctification. And so far, 
' Spencer in his place. 

' ' Well, hear John Endicott : This is concluded 
' a False Doctrine, because it is a Doctrine against 
' all the Ministers of the Country. But here, 
' John Endicott told a Notorious hye in Open 
' Court ; for sure he owned John Cotton was a 
' Minister, and if so, hear what he declared in 
' Open Court. 

' ' Cotton : Brother 'Wheelwright's Doctrine was - 
' according to God, in the Points Controverted, 
' a7id 'wholely, and altogether ; and nothing did I 
' hear alledged against the Doctrine proved hy 
' the Word of God. And so far, John Cotton, 
' with much more, wliich he then spake to allay 
' the heat of their Raging Spirits, but all would 
' not do ; for when they were so much Chal- 
' lenged to prove by Scripture the Doctrine False, 
' which Wheelwright had delivered, or else to 



81 



" acquit liira, they found out auotlier way to 
"bring their Wicked Ends to pas^?. 

" And stiid Spencer : The, malter in hand is 
" not the Doctrine, whether, it be true or false; 
" hut the question is, Whether or not Mr. Wlieel- 
" Wright hath stirred up Mutiny in the Country, 
^^ and cast Aspersion upon the Ministers? And 
' ' the Jilinisters, I mean eleven or twelve, were as 
" mad as who was madest, and as violent as any 
" in this matter ;" etc. {Pp. 6 — 7.) 

Groom elsewhere says of them, that they "Ar- 
" raigned him, Judged him and Condemned him, 
" but could not disprove his Doctrine, though he 
' ' and others often challenged l^oth Priests and 
"Professors, from highest to lowest; and all or 
" most you had to say, was, that it was contrary 
" to the rest of the Ministers, and therefore was 
" Seditious a?id Mutinous."' (P. 5.)* 

Besides the extracts which Groome gives from 
Wheelwright's Sermon, he quotes Wheelvmght's 
Testimony against the Massachusetts Law of 
1637, that none sliould be received to inhabit 
within that jurisdiction but such as should be 
allowed by some of the Magistrates. The passage 
which he gives (p. 14) is the conclusion of the 
Brirfe Answer, etc.. which is printed in the 
Hutchinson Papers, p. 83-83. The curious reader 
will be repaid, if he will compare the two. 
Ilutchmson attriliutes the authorship to Vane, but 
Groom's has the advantage of being much earlier 
testimony ; and the internal evidence does not 



* In KMT, Wmslow said of " the proceediags of the Massa- 
" chusctts against Mr. John Whoclwrirjht, eta, had it been the 
"will of God, I would fliose differeuies had ucverbeen: But 
" the maine differeuce \v;is about a Petition by way of Re- 
" mou,-;ti\'uicc, wliich the Goverumeut tooko very offensive : 
" But Mr. Wheelwright and they are reconciled, hee iiaviii^ 
"given satisfaction," etc. — Mypocrmj Umnatihed, <fco., 06. 

11 



82 



repel but rather confirms it. Some of those who 
have seen Groom's tract, appear to have thought 
that he quoted this passage as a part of "Wheel- 
vrright's sermon, -n'hich is not the case. Compare 
Palfrei/s iY. B., i. 480 and 483 Notes ; also 499 
and Note : also Note of Publishing Committee, 
Massachusetts Histoiical Society, to Wheelvpright's 
SeiTQon, in the Historical Magazine, II. i. 216, 
and Proceedings of the Massachusetts Ilistorical 
Society, 1 866-07, p. 257. 

Groom aLso preserves a memorial of Anne Hutch- 
inson, of peculiar and touching interest. He 
quotes ' ' her Letter, to one Mi'. Leveret, as she 
" writ him in her Answer to his 1st, Moneth, 1643. 
' ' It seems by that letter which Leveret sent to 
'^ Ann Hutchinson, he termed her Haughty Jez- 
" eiel, and said she icas a Bailer and lieviler, 
' ' and such like Terms and Names, and yet in the 
' ' same Letter asked her what was become of the 
" Light, she once shined in, in their Parts? 

"And now Ann Hutchinson, to that Letter of 
*'■ Lever eVs, If it were the True Light, in which 
' ' you say I once did shine in, I am sure the 
'■'Author thereof, and the Mctintainer of it is 
" Qod, and it shall brealc forth onore and more 
''unto the perfect Day, and when I loas tcith 
" you it discovered thehest Light in yourself to 
"he HarJcness, as yourself confessed to me in 
" your oicn Parlour. 

" And ichereas you say I speaTc great sioelling 
" wo)'da of Vanity, that Scripture is fulfilled in 
" your false Teachers, who folloio the u'ay of Bs.- 
" laam a«fZ Bozer, and that Water holds out the 
"Spirit, John 7, 38, 39.. And Christ Jesus 
" came by this Water or Spirit, Mat. 1, 18. And 
" hereby we shall Tcnoio the Spirit of AnticJwist, 
"because he confesseth not that Jesus Christ is 
" come in the Flesh. And as to that in Rev. 13, 



83 



' irJiich you say must he meant of Constantine, 
" and not of Christ, Icing Itroucjl it forth in tTie 
"Gentile Cliurch, then the Wo7na)i that Ironght 
' ^ forth Constantine must le crowned with Twelve 
" Stars. 

" But your Church standing in the City Order, 
" iy your oioi Confession must needs he one of 
" those Cities of the Nations tchich the Lord hath 
"said should fall, Rev. 16, 19. And if what 
" you called Railing or Reviling, icere a Truth 
"of God, acted hy him through me, then you 
" have called the Spirit of God a Railer and, Re- 
" viler. And so far Ann Hutchinson, with much 
" more in her Answer to Leverefs Letter of the 
"1st Sloneth 1643, after they had imprisoned 
"her, and banished her." Pj). 9, 10. 



VI. 
DUDLEY'S REQUEST TO WINTHROP ON 

HIS DEATH-BED. 
Extracts from Letters to the Hon. Robert 
C. Westhrop, President of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. 

I have (I tliink) found the authority for the ac- 
count of Dudley's request to "VYinthrop on hia 
death-bed. The reference made by your vener- 
able and honored predecessor, the Editor of 
"Winthrop's Journal, in his admirable note to the 
passage concerning the law against Anabaptistery, 
in 1644, onthe intolerance of that period, enhances 
the interest with which the discovery may be 
regarded. Referring to Wuithrop as undoubted- 
ly opposed to such severities in his latter days, he 
quotes the story fi-ova Hutchinson, i. 142, "that 
"upon his death-bed, when jMi". Dudley pressed 



84 



' him to sign an order of banishment of an hetero- 
' dox person, he refused, saying, ' I n.vvE done 

' 'TOO MUCH OF THAT WORK ALREADY.'" Mr. 

' Savage adds ' Gladly would I adduce, were it 

' it in my j^ower, the original authonty for this 

' golden commentary on the fatuitous legislation 

' of the age. Hul^bard and Matlier are silent — 

' perhaps fi'om design." 

The authorit^v is George Bishop, in his ]!few 

England Judged. After referring to the murder 

of Anne Hutchinson by the Indians — " the guilt 

" and weight of Vv'hose blood he lays upon the au- 

" thorities of New England" — he proceeds thus: 

p. 172. 

' ' And its like Governor JoJiu Whitrope, 
' * Senior (who was an honest man and had some 
" hand in this being drawn to it by yoii?- Priests) 
" was made sensible of it on his Death -l)ed, when 
" old Dudlij, a man of Blood, and the rest of you, 
' ' sent to tlie said John Wintrope to set his hand 
"to a Paj)er for the Banishment of one Matthews, 
" a Welicli Man, a Priest; which he refused, toll- 
'' iug them he had had his hand too much m such 
' ' things already ; but nothing of all this vnll work 
" on you," etc., &c. 

The heterodox person referred to must have 
been tlie same Marmaduke Matthews, who appears 
first in the Records as the subject of a petition 
from the inhabitants of Hull that he might be en- 
couraged to " goe to them and preach amono'st 
"them" (4 May, 1649) not long ;.fter the death 
of Winthrop. ITievote upon this petition "that 
" he should not retourne to Hull nor reside wth. 
" them" (9 May, 1049) shows that his "offencoa 
" to magistrates, elders and many bretlu'cn" may 
not im]jro):>al)ly have Ijeen such as to challenge the 
discipline of the authorities at or near the time 
referred to by Bishop. 



85 



But I may very safely leave this part of the 
Bubject to you, for such examination as you may 
think pro]ier. You will join with me in the ex- 
pression of satisfaction with which I find even in 
the pages of the indignant old Quaker so just a 
tribute to the superiority of your great ancestor. 

* -X- -1; •!« 

I may add to the former note concerning the 
elder Winthrop, a memorandum and reference 
to the same authority, for another statement even 
more honoralile to the younger. It is with re- 
spect to his attempt to save the lives of the un- 
happv Quakers who were executed m Boston, in 
1659^ 

" Bestdes did not John Wintrope the Governor 
' ' of the Jurisdiction of Connecticote, la1)our with 
"■ ymi, that ye would not put tliein to Death ? and 
"did lie not say unto j'ou, ' That he would heg it 
^' '■ of you on his hare Icnees, that ye woidd not do 
" 'h .?'" Bishop's N. E. Judged: p. 119. 

Sir Thomas Temple's intercession which follows 
in the same jxige is a happy early association of 
yom" honored family names. 



VII. 

THE MASSACHUSETTS LAWS OF 1648, AND 

JOSEPH HILLS. 

A competent authority has declared that "tlie 
"Laws of a nation form the most instructive por- 
"tion of its history." This countr}' certainly 
will f uniish no exception ; and our earlier Codes, 
although still too much neglected, liave long been 
regarded v/ith great interest l)y our liistorical 
scholars. The Statutes at large of all the original 
States ought long since to have been collected 
and reprinted, but with the exception of Vir- 



ginia and South Carolina, nothing worthy has 
been clone and comparatively little begun. 
Projjosals have been issued for the publication 
of the earliest English Laws of New York, for the 
})eriod prior to 1691, when the printed Laws 
begin ; and Massachusetts is at last moving in 
the work of reproducing her own legislation of 
the Provincial period. She ought to go back to 
tlie lieginuing, and give us all the Laws of the 
Colonial period — under the first Charter. 

No one of the later contributions to the History 
of Massachusetts possesses a higher interest for us 
than that in which the late Fkancis C. Gray 
made known the discover}^ of the Body of 
Liberties, the first Code adopted in the Bay. 
His vindication of the claims of Nathaniel Ward 
— the Simple Cobler of Agawam — as the Law- 
giver of the Puritan Colony, is crowned by his 
reproduction of the Laws themselves, previously 
unknown to modern historians. The first edition 
of the Laws printed vras in 1648 — and no copy is 
publicly l^nown to exist. If such a treasure 
there be still hidden away, he Avhose good for- 
tune it shall be to find and produce it to the 
world, may well rejoice and be exceeding glad. 
We shall all rejoice and be glad v\'ith him! 

The follovi'ing document hitherto un]3ublislied, 
relates to the history of the Lav/s of 1648. It is 
of the highest importance, for it sliows how and 
hy whom the work was accomplislied, and may 
revive the memory of a faithful servant of the 
Commonwealth in her heroic age. 

Petition op Joseph Hills. 

"To THE HONKED GeI^RALL COUIIT HOLDEN 

" AT Boston 24 5Iat, 1682. 
' ' The petition of Joseph HiUs, humbly shewing, 



87 



" How it hatli pleased the righteous God to lay 
" upon yr petitioner, a smart liand of visitation 
" in tlie kter part of his pilgrimage, totally be- 
" reaving him of the sight of his eyes, for more 
"than 4 yearos now past, (besides sundry j-eares 
"dimness before) ])y raeanes whereof lie hath 
" lieen utterly uncapable of getting or saving 
"anything towards his necessary subsistence, 
" being now also more than SOyeares of age be- 
" sides other iulirmities of body, which long have 
"and arc like to accompany him to his grave 
' ' Your petitioner hath not l)een backward to his 
" ability to be servicable with his person & estate 
" to the comon wealth; for besides other ordinary 
" services, it pleased ye court to make him one of 
"the County Comitty to draw vp some orders 
" necessary for ye Country, in which service I 
' ' went over all ye Statutes ua Pulton at large, 
" collected such as I deemed just & necessary, 
' ' drevv' them up in a small book in folio, and 
" transmitted them according to order to the 
' ' grand committy at boston (wiz) M^ Winthrop, 
' ' 111" Ward & others, after (his it pleased the 
' ' Court to appoint a Comitty to draw vp a body 
" of lawes f or the Colony (viz) M^ Winthrop & 
" sundr}- others whereof j'oirr petitioner was 
' ' one, to examine all ye Court records, from 
"yetirst to that tiuie, which for avoyding of 
' ' far greater charge it being the worke l5ut of 
' ' one fell to my lot to be active in, in which I 
' ' went ouer ye 3 old bookes of recordes, ye book 
' ' of li]jert}^es, & ye great booke then & since in 
' ' ye hands of j\I'" Rawson, which lawes I brought 
' ' together under theyr proper heades Coppy wise 
" Avith exact maikes of examination & approba- 
' ' tion of ye Court I was ordered to prepare for 
" the presse, which I did, putting them together 
" under theyr proper heades with ye dates of 



' ' ye sundry lawes in the foot thereof, in the year 
" 1648 in an alphabetical ordcj-, with an apt 
" table for ye more ready recourse to each law: 
"for which last service it pleased the court to 
"make me some allowance, which was to my 
"satisfaction, though short of the elaborate care, 
" paines and time s{)ent therein these things I 
" should not have touched upon, but that there 
' ' are few of ye (Jourt as now constituted, that 
"had ye opcrtuuity to have ye cognizance tliereof. 
" The premises considered my ])ctition is that I 
' ' may be freed from all publick assessments, to 
" ye Countrv, County, (and secular thinges for 
" ye towne if it may be) for my infirme person 
"and little estate now left, during the remaining 
" ]jart of my pilgrimage in this vale of teares. 
" So with mj' dayly iirayers to god only wise 
"Just, & mercifullto guide you in all your mo- 
' ' mentous Concernments I crave leave to subscribe 
' ' myself e, 

' ' Your very humble servant 

"Joseph Kills. 

"In answer to this petition the Mags judge 
' ' meet that the petitioner bee freed from Coun- 
" try and County rates during his life their 
' ' Bn the Deputyes hereto Consenting 

"P. BfLKELEY p order 
"June: 1: 82 

' ' Consented to by the Dedputy 

"William Tokkey Cleric." 

The following Order appears upon the records of 
the General Court of the eleventh of October. 
1682 

" In ansr to the petition of M"" Joseph Hills, 
" bereaved of his sight for seucraU yeares, «fcc. 



89 



The following order appears upon the records of 
the General Court of the eleventh of October, 
1682— 

"In ansr to the petition of Mr Joseph Hills, 
" bereaved of his sight for scuerall yeares, &c. 
" the Court judgeth it meet to order, that the 
' ' petitioner bo freed from Country and County ' 
"rates during Ms life." Mass. Mecords : y . oil . 

The statements of the venerable petitioner are 
entirely in harmony with the Colony Records. 
The Middlesex Committee of which he became a 
member in October, 1645, was appointed in the 
preceding May, to consider of and draw up a 
body of laws which were to be presented at the 
next General Court. He was appointed at the re- 
quest and in place of Captain Cooke. The subse- 
quent committee for perfecting the laws was 
appointed in November, 1646. The notices of 
then- progress in the work down to the time of 
publication leave no room for a doubt of tlie jus- 
tice of his claim to have been principally ' ' active 
"in the worke" until it was accomplished. A 
substantial recognition of his services appears in 
an order of Court (in May, 1649) by which he 
was "granted, as a gratuity, tenn pounds, to be 
' ' paid him out of the treasury, for his paines 
' ' about the printed, lawes." John Wayte of 
Charlestown Village, had previously (in March, 
1648) been allowed four pounds and eighteen 
shillings ' ' for his writing one booke of the 
"lawes, & for finding paper for both bookes." 

Mr. Hill was afterwards much employed in 
similar labors concerning the laws, some of v/hich 
were printed in 1654, others in 1656 and 1657. 
In May, 1653, he presented a writing to the Court, 
containing the several particulars wherein the 
country had. employed him about the Laws ; oa 

13 



90 



perusal whereof the Court ordered an allowance 
to him of ten pounds, ' ' in reference to what 
" service he hath done." It is not improbable 
that all his previous service may have been con- 
sidered in this order upon the petition of 1653, as 
well as in the subsequent grant, in 1656, of five 
hundred acres of land near Northampton. 

Ca])tain Edward Johnson, in his muster-roll of 
New England Worthies, commemorated in the 
forty -fifth Chapter of his Wonder- Working Provi- 
dence of Sions Saviour i?i Neio England, men- 
tions Joseph Hill, as " a man active for to bring 
" the Lawcs of the Country in order." 

Those who may be curious to learn more of the 
history of the man, will find the key to most that is 
valuable, in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, 
and his references. 

Mr. Hill's description of his method in the 
work is graphic, and his reference to the use of 
" all ye Statutes in Pulton at large" shows that the 
Laws of England were not altogether repudiated, 
— a charge so often repeated by friends as well 
as enemies. Winslow too, defending himself in 
England against the charge of lieing a principal 
opposer of the Laioes of England, in Neio England, 
refers to the use of the English Statutes in his 
New EnglancVs Salamander JJiscovered, page 24: 

"I have beene so farre from sleighting the 
"Law of England as I have brought my owne 
" bookeof the Statutes of En gland into om- Court, 
* ' that so when wee have wanted a Law or Ordi- 
*' nance wee might see what the Statutes provided 
"mthat Idnd, and foimd a great readinesse in 
•' our generall Com't to take all helpe and benefit 
" thereby." 

The}' used them just as far as they thought 
proper, to suit then* circumstances and designs, 



i 



91 



and defied them when they thought it was safe to 
do so. 



VIII. 

POSTSCRIPT TO THE FOREGOING ARTICLE 
—A NOTICE OF SOME REMARKS ON THE 
SAME SUBJECT BY A RECENT EDITOR 
OF JOHNSON'S WONDER-WORKING PROV. 
IDENCE, ETC. 

Since the preparation of the pi'eceding article, 
we have received our copies of the new edition of 
the Wonder- Worling Providence of Sion^s 
Saviour in Neio England, a reprint of the original 
edition of 1654, with an historical Introduction 
and an Index, by the Libi:arian of the Boston 
Athena-um. That part of his Introduction which 
relates to the history of the Massachusetts Laws of 
1648, is so extraordinary a specimen of critical 
operosity that it demancls notice here, unless we 
give up Josejjh Hills with his documents and ad- 
mit the infallibility of the Editor and his plenary 
power to dispense with the truth of history. Cap- 
tain Edward Johnson would "stare and gasp," 
if he could see what is claimed for him by his 
Editor, notwithstanding the modest way in which 
the latter contrasts his own with the vicious 
practice of some of the fi-aternity — ' ' a class of 
" panegyrists " among whom he " has no aml>i- 
"tion to be reckoned." He magnifies his fideli- 
ty to the cause of truth in history, in omitting 
' ' to claim for his Author eveiy species of talent 
"and preeminence." He is "quite content to 
"state facts, even if they are homely." We may 
trust that he is more square with his professions 
in other parts of his work — but on the subject to 



92 



which we have ref en-ed, he is not at all content to 
state facts, handsome or homely, and wanders at 
his own sweet will through much inference and 
more coujectui-e to a most unwarrantable conclu- 
sion. 

He devotes several pages of his Introduction to 
a sketch of the history of the Laws of 1G48, in 
which his object is to mislead tlie reader into the 
l^elief that Cai^tain Edward Johnson was the 
master spirit or principal working man of the 
Committees whose labors finally resulted in the 
volume of Laws i^rinted ui that year. Yet there 
is not one jot or tittle of evidence produced to 
justify the impression he labors through these 
eight or ten pages to make in the mincts of his 
readers. It is all suggestion of what was possible 
or prol^able, or statements with a perhaps or 
qualification which shows that he doubted his 
own commentary. 

He represents "the people" as very "impatient 
"under this biief exposition of their liberties" 
set forth in the Code of 1 041, and "demanding 
" specific statutes " under tlie Code, which he re- 
gards as ' ' analogous to the Bill of Rights." ' ' For 
' ' another seven years, the process, already described. 
" of delaj^, of api^oiutiug Committees of the 
"Magistrates, who did nothing, and whose interest 
"was to do nothing, went on." Why did he 
not cjuote Mr. Gray instead of perverting the re- 
sult of his labors? and give the real secret of the 
delay in publication, that "as the Royal cause 
' ' declined in England, and that of the Par- 
"liament prevailed, they were less aiy]}rehen- 
'^ sive of the consequences of puhlishing laics 
^'■repugnant to those of England, in viola- 
' ' tion of their Charter from the King ; relying 
"on the favor and uidulgence of the dominant 
"party there." Si/". H. IS. Coll, viii. 210. The 



93 



Editor might also have referred with advantage, 
to Mr. Trumlniirs judicious note on this subject, 
iuLechford's Plain Dealing. (Edit. 18G7, page 
62. ) Would it have disturbed his democratic theory 
and shorn the plumes of his popular champion? 
He also states that ' ' it was onlj' hy the energy 
"and perseverance of a few representatives of the 
' ' people, of whom Captain Johnson was pei'haps 
" the most efRcieut, that a body of laws was pre- 
" pared and ratified; and {sic) which was printed 
"in the year 1648." {Page ciii.) "Efficient pro- 
" gress was made in the work only when he was 
" on the Committee," (Page civ.) Johnson's own 
notice of the publication of the Laws has " an 
" air, seemingly, of personal triumph." {Pages civ. 
cv. ) Wlio but the Editor could ever have detected 
it in these words — "In the year 1648, they were 
"printed, and now are to be seen of all men." 
— " In the name of the Prophet — figs!" 

"Why did the Editor omit his Author's much 
more significant character of Josepli Hill, as "a 
' ' man active for to bring the Lawes of the Coun- 
" try in order" ? {Page 110.) Why did he thnist 
into a foot-note the record of Joseph Hill's com- 
pensation for the service which he claims Johnson 
to have performed — with the stingy admission 
that Hill ' ' also was employed on the work " and 
the careless statement that nothing appears in the 
records to show that any other person was paid ? 
And this foot-note is appended to a statement in 
the text that "it is highly probable that he 
[Johnson] "was wholly aljsorbed during the 
' ' Spring, Summer and Fall in revising and print- 
"ing the Massachusetts Laws of 1648"! The 
only fact produced to sustain this exalted probab- 
ility is that he was excused by a vote of the Court. 
in March, 1648, from further attendance, and 
another was appouated in his place as Deputy 



94 



ehortly afterwards. The rest is all conjecture as 
to the "many urgent occasions" under the ijres- 
sure of which he requested a dismissal. The 
language of the record does not, we confess, 
sound to our ears much like a retkement for the 
discharge of a work of such public concern as the 
printing these laws had then become. But we 
leave the province of conjecture to the Editor. 
Why did he not read on the opj^osite page of this 
Jlarch record, which he quotes, the following, 
which precedes the dismissal ? 

' ' The Corte doth desire that Mr. Rawson & lb. 
' ' Hill compare ye amendments of the bookes of 
" lawes passed, & make them as one; & one of 
"them to remain in ye handesofye committee 
' ' for ye speedy comitting of them to the pvesse, 
' ' & y i othr to remain in ye hands of ye Secre- 
" tary, sealed up, till ye next Co_te." — 
Massachusetts Records : ii. 230. 

Or, if this escaped his notice, Avhy did he not 
observe that every subsequent order concerning 
the laws, including the order for disposition of 
the edition, mentions Mr. Hill and does not men- 
tion Captain Johnson ? * Especially the last, which 
gave a copy without j^rice to eveiy memlier of 
tlie Court, and the Auditor-general, and Mr. 
Joseph Hill. 

It had been a sorry recompense to the principal 
laborer in this great vrork to omit him from the 
free List, and make him pay his "three shillings 
"the booke," like any common Puritan! A 
slight the more conspicuous, since he had lost his 
official title to a copy by a retu-ement from the 
General Court for the express purpose of seeing 

* We follow the Editor in giving his Author the title (Cap- 
tain) by which he has since been known, although he \i 
called Lieutenant in the Records of the period to which w i 
refer. 



05 



the volume through the press ! Happily we are 
not obliged to accept the theory whicli would 
convict the Massachusetts General Court of 1648 
of such base ingratitude ! 

Let us review the record a little further ! 

Captain Johnson's name appears first in this 
connection, on May the fourteenth, 1645, as one of 
the original members of the ]Middlesex Commit- 
tee. MassacJm setts Records, ii. 109 ; ill. 26. If 
he was so mighty an uistrament for forwarding 
the work, why should his colleague. Captain 
Cooke, resign in order to secure the service of 
Joseph Hill? Id. ii. 128 ; iii. 46. His next ap- 
pointment is as one of tlie Committee appointed 
in ]May, 1046, which the Editor says was "to 
" condense " what had been done. Id. ii. 157, 
iii. 75. We do not find anything about conden- 
sing in the order of Court to which he refers — 
nor does he furnish any authority for his statement 
that "the work went on, and the Committee 
"completed their labors." On the contrary, the 
next order, in November, 1040, shows conclusive- 
ly that " the v.'orking man " liad not been on that 
Committee. By this order, a new Committee, 
"for perfecting the lawes"was appointed, of 
whicli Mr. Hill was a member. Id. ii. 169 ; 
iii. 84. Then- work was still incomplete in May, 
1647, for which the Committee appear to liave given 
a satisfactory reason ; and they were continued 
with the addition of Captain Johnson to their 
number. Id. ii. 190. Here the Editor comes in 
with his favorite. "Tlie work was completed 
" within the time specified, and was jnit to press 
" durmg the summer of 1648." Doubtless this 
is true, but does it appear that Captam Johnson 
continued in the service till these results were 
achieved? Not at all. In Ncnemlier, when the 
laws were "in a manner agreed upon," another 



96 



Committee with considerable "work yet laid out 
before them, appear in charge, of which Mr. 
Hill is, but Captain Johnson is not, a mem- 
ber. Id. ii. 218. In March, 1648, as we have 
seen, just before he was dismissed fi'om further 
attendance at Court, Mr. Rawson and Mr. Hill 
were charged witli the comparison of ' ' the amend- 
* ' ments of the bookes of laws passed " and to 
" make them as one." Of these two copies, one 
was to remain in the hands of the Committee for 
the speedy committmg of them to the press, and 
the other to remain in the hands of the Secretary, 
sealed up, till the next Court. Id. ii. 230. The 
orders of tlie next Court reveal the fact that one 
copy was then in the hands of Mr. Hill, when 
both were sent for, for the use of the Court, in 
May, 1648. Id. ii. 239; iii. 125. Shortly after- 
wards, Mr. Auditor and Mr. Hill were directed 
* ' to examine the laws now at press and to see if 
' ' any material law be not put in or mentioned in 
' ' the table as being of force and to make supply 
"of them." Id. ii. 246 ; iii. 130. The next notice 
is the order for disposition of the cojjies in 
Octol^er, 1648, to which we have already re- 
ferred. Id. ii, 262; iii., 144. 

In view of all this, we are not surprised to find 
the Editor "hedging" a little towards the end 
of his course : — 

" I do not claim that Captain Johnson was the 
' ' chief compiler of the Massachusetts Laws of 
"1648. In legal knowledge and literary train- 
"ing he was excelled by other persons who 
"were engaged \v^th him in the work." 
Why hesitate at this circumstance? There is 
quite as much evidence that he was " chief com- 
" pUer " as there is that he was reviser and editor 
— and more than there is for the statements which 
foUow — " He was the man thoroughly in earnest 



97 



"that the laivs should bo written out and 
" printed. He understood the wants of the 
"people, and furnished the democratic impetus 
"which the enterprise needed." What does the 
Editor know about all this? "^^lat authority 
is there that Captain Edward Johnson was "a 
" democrat in the best [oi' any] sense of the term"? 
Democratic — indeed ! Of all historical twaddle, 
deliver us from the prate about the democracy 
of the Massachusetts Puritans! John Cotton 
conscientiously uttered the true faith once delivered 
to those saints, when he said, " I do not Con- 

"CEY\T3 THAT EVER GoD DID ORDEYKE DeJIOC- 
"R.\CY as a EITT GCVTIRNJIENT EYTHER FOR 

" Church OR CojmoNWEAX,Tn!" And old John 
"Winthrop's democracy was summed up in that 
utterance of liis to Hooker, of which his descend- 
ants are not as proud as they ought to be, when 
he said of the body of the people — "The best 

" P-VRT IS always THE LEAST, AJSID OP THAT BEST 
" PART THE WISER PART IS ALWAYS THE LESSER." 

It is a libel on Johnson to call him a democrat, 
in any sense. He was a Puritan, and his Editor's 
apology for his complicity in the tyi-anuical action 
of the Court respecting the Maiden Church is 
simply ridiculous. He was perfectly consistent 
and f aitlif ul to the narrow limits of his strait pro- 
fession. 

The Editor continues the summary of his OAvn 
fancies about his hero, in connection with the 
laws : 

" His practical common sense was useful in 
' ' thwarting impracticable suggestions, and in 
"harmonizing conflicting opinions." This may 
be good guessmg, but it is not history. 

"There was also much work to be done in 
"transcribing, collating, and condensing the 
"various drafts submitted." 

13 



98 



"We have shown pretty conclusively who per- 
formed this work. Mi-. Hill's own statement, 
sustained by the Records, reduces our Editor's 
argument for his author's probable service to a 
list of qualifications contingent, which might be 
assigned to cither of his colleagues if not most of 
his contemporaries. 

The Editor refers to jNIr. Francis C. Gray's 
interesting paper on the Early Laws of Massachu- 
setts, but only for the purpose of complaint, that 
he in no instance mentions Captain Johnson in 
comiection with the Laws of 1648. As the Editor 
mentions nobody else in that connection, liis own 
superior wisdom is brought into striking contrast 
with the ignorance wliich he attributes to Mr. 
Gray. 

Tills fling at Mr. Gray is not at all in harmony 
with the estimate put upon this lamented gentle- 
man and scholar by his associates. The late JVIi'. 
Prescott said — 

" I think he was the most remarkable man I 
' ' ever kncAV for variety and fulness of inf orma- 
"tion, and a perfect command of it. He was a 
' * walidng Encyclopa?dia. I have seen many men 
' ' who liad excellent memories, provided you 
" would let tliem turn to their libraries to get the 
' ' information you wanted ; but, no matter on 
"what subject you spoke to him, his knowledge 
' ' was at his finger's ends and enthely at your 
" service." 

Mr. Gray's work stUl holds its place as the 
best sketch of the historj' of the early laws of 
Massachusetts. If no better addition can be fur- 
nished than that we now have under consideration, 
we are tempted to say tliat what Mr. Gray did not 
know, on the subject, is not worth knowing. 

"We do not pmpose to review the work, but a 



i 



99 



hasty pemsal of the volume suggests several 
topics to which the space occupied by the Editor's 
vrortliless sketch of the laws had been better de- 
voted. 

Ill his chronology of the author'fi labors, In- 
troduction, page xiii, ho might have added to 
what he quotes from his author (P. 36) concern- 
ing Seaborn Cotton, the other much more con- 
clusive passage from page 166. 

In liis notices of the laws rcspectmg a relig- 
ious test for freemen {Pp. Ixix., cxx.) he says "No 
' ' law of the Colony was more severely assailed 
' ' than this for the next third of a century by 
"malcontents here and in England; yet it was 
"not rescinded nor qualified till August, 1664." 
Why did he not find room to add that this illib- 
eral law continued in force untU the dissolution 
of the government ? it being repealed, in appear- 
ance only, after the restoration of Iving Charles 
the Second. Had the Puritans been deprived of 
their civil privileges in England by an Act of 
Parliament, unless they would join in communion 
with the churches there, it might very well have 
been in the first roll of grievances. But such 
were the requisites to qualify for churcli member- 
ship here, that the grievance was abundantly 
greater. Hutcliinsoa. Was he afraid that he would 
be classed by the historical critic of the Boston 
Transcript, or some other equally courteous 
champion of the Puritans, with Hutchinson, 
Brodhead, and other "professed historians," not 
as " a tyro," but the utterer of " a deliberate and 
"malicious falsehood " ? 

The Editor vouchsafes some information re- 
specting the Royal Commissioners of 1664, {Pp. 
cxxi and cxxviii.) In speaking of Maverick, 
why did he omit Johnson's character of the man, 
as the Pmitans found him, in 1630 (" a man of a 



100 



" very loving and curteous behaviour, very ready 
" to entertaine strangers,") and give no hint of 
the persecution -vi^hich he experienced for the 
next thirty years ? This might explain his want 
of sympathy ■with the opinions and purposes of 
his oppressors — and the earnestness v^'ith which 
ho i^rosecuted his scheme for overthrowing their 
authority in the Colony. Why not make use of 
the discoveries of the historian of East Boston, 
and give a more intelligent account both of the 
origin and end of Maverick ? He was the 
son of tlie first Minister of the Church in 
Dorchester, whom he preceded into the wilder- 
ness ; and he found a more congenial place of resi- 
dence in his old age in New York. The Editor 
might have added a confirmation of the first 
statement by quoting from his author's ' ' meeter " 
to "the Reverend, and godly Mr. Maventck.'''' 

(P. 4:2.) 

( i IVTAVERUCK thon mnsc pnt period to thy dayes, 

±y±u jj.^ Wilderness thy Idndred thee provoke 
" To come, but Christ doth thee for high ends Raise." 

The Editor is pleased to accord to Mcolls, the 
chief Commissioner, "some ability and discre- 
"tion," but seems to be ignorant that he was 
Governor of Nev/ York, where he had already 
settled the nev/ frame of Government, lefore 
May, 16G5, when he and his colleagaies " open- 
" cd their budget of instructions and com- 
" plaints" in Boston, and vv^ere confronted by 
the "v.'ise and skillful diplomacy" of Captain 
Edward Johnson and others not particularly 
mentioned b}^ his Editor. 

In discussing the Preamljle to the Body of 
Liberties, the Editor rises with the unperial 
thouie to the follov/ing height : — 

' ' This sublime declaration, standing at the 
"head of the first Code of Laws in New Eng- 



101 



"land, was the production of no common in- 
"tellect. It has the movement and the dig- 
"nity of a mind like John Milton's or Alger- 
" non' Sidney's ; and its theory of Government 
"was far in advance of thT3 age. A bold 
"avowal of the rights of man, and a plea for 
"popular freedom, it contains the germ of the 
"memorable Declaration of July 4, 177G. 

This is the original Declaration of 1041: — 

" The free fruition of such liberties, immuni- 
"ties, and privileges as humanity, civility and 
"Christianity call for, as due to everj^ man, in 
"his place and proportion, v/ithout impeach- 
' ' ment and inf I'ingement, hath ever been, and 
' ' ever will be, tlie tranquility and stability, of 
' ' churches and commonwealths ; and the de- 
"nial or deprival thereof, the disturbance, if 
"not the ruin of both." 

Where, we take leave to inquhe, did the editor 
get the hint for his lofty flight on this subject? 
While yvc, ask for information, we venture to 
quote a passage from the Notes on the History of 
Slavery in Massachusetts, which may at least 
suggest a commentary on the Preamble as v/ell 
as the "svrelliug prologue." 

" The first statute cstallishing slavery in 
'^^ America is to l)e found in the famous Code 
"of Fukdasientals, or Body of Liberties 

' ' OF THE j'llASSACnUSETTS COLONY IX N EW EXG- 

"laxd — tlte first Code of Laics of that Colony, 

'■'■adopted in December, 1641 The 

"preamble to the Body of Liberties itself might 
' ' have been construed into some vague recogni- 
" tion of rights in indi^adual members of society 
' ' superior to legislative power — although it was 
' ' promulgated by the possessors of the most arbi- 
" trary authority in the then actual holders of legis- 



103 



" lative and executive power. Compare Htird's 
" Law of Freedom cindBondage: i. 198. Had they 
" only leai'ned to reason as some of the modem 
" -writers of Massachusetts History have done on 
" this subject, the poor Indians and Negroes of 
' ' tliat day might have compelled additional 
"legislation if they could not vindicate their 
" right to freedom in the General Court. For the 
" firot Article of the Declaration of Rights, in 
" 1780, is only a new edition of 'the glittering 
" 'and sounding generalities,' which prefaced the 
" Body of Liberties m 1641. Under the latter, 
^'' Ibv man aJavery existed for' nearly a century and 
" a half without serious challenge'''' in Massachu- 
setts. 

There is no mistaking the ' ' place and propor- 
"tion" of Negroes anct Indians and their child- 
ren under that code ! nor the measure of civil and 
religious liberty meted out in the model of the 
Simple Cobler of Agawam ! At that time, IMassa- 
chusetts had not learned the alphabet of Free- 
dom — nor dreamed of throwing away the horn- 
books of ancient tyranny in Church or State. 
Her founders may liave "builded better than 
" they knew;" but neither Bishop nor King in 
Old England ever wielded crosier or sceptre with 
more arbitrary and intolerant sway than the 
Magistrates and Elders of that little oligarchy in 
the^^Vest. 

The Editor finds an explanation of ' ' the emi- 
' ' nent ability which characterized the State 
' ' paj)ers of the American Revolution, " in the fact 
that their authors had been trained in the "school 
of statesmanship " estaljlislied and maintained 
"for a centurj' and a half," by "the Founders of 
" the Massachusetts Colony ancl their descendants," 
whom he regards as ' ' probably the best trained 
"and most skilled diplomatists of theii* time." 



103 



One of their most signal early triumphs was in 
that "critical jieriod" when Captain Edward 
Johnson appeared as "aleader" against the "com- 
"bined ingenuity and malice of the restored 
" English liierarchy, assailing the charter and 
"liberties of the Colony."* 

Wliy pause here? When his hand was in, why 
did not the Editor complete liis claim and specifi- 
cations, for the universal Patent rights of Massa- 
chusetts? Why not trace the origin of Yankee 
Doodle to the New England Version of the 
Psalms of David, or some of Captain Johnson's 
" meeter "? the Canon of Woman's Rights to the 
Synod which condemned Anne Hutchinson's 
heresies in 1637? tlie "Rights of IMan by Tom 
" Pame" to the elder Winthrop ? and the doctrine 
of univei'sal suffrage to the close corporation 
which ruled the New England Theocracy. 

Seriously, vre confess our belief that modem 
radicalism owes just aljout as much to the first 
Code of ]Massachusetts, as that Code was in- 



* It may be presnmptuons, but we venture the opinion 
that Samuel Mavericlj did not find any great eagernesa 
among " the restored hierarchy '' to punish or humiliate that 
distant colony of non-conformists, when he went to England 
at the Restoration, to seek the redress of grievances. It tooli 
him several years to arouse the sluggish interest of the min- 
istry in the affairs of New England, notwithstanding their 
natural antipathy to Puritans everywhere; ard it would 
puzzle a sharper critic than our Editor to point out the eviden- 
ces of hierarchical ingenuity and malice, in ihe Comm ssion 
and Instructions witti v/hich the Royal Agents came into 
New England, in 1664-5. That their miss on was nf aiy 
fruitless m Massachusetts was due quite as much to the in- 
difference or neglect of the Royal Guverument as the " artful 
" dodging " which excites the admiration of Capt'iin Jo'ju- 
son's Editor. Maverick has never had his true place in the 
history of Massachusetts. Great injustice his pursued his 
memory, and his hereditary enemies have stud.'ouFly depre 
ciated his intellectual as well as moral character. Yet he haa 
a higher claim to be regarded as a champion of civil and re- 
ligious liberty than any one of his orthodox Puritan con- 
temporaries. 



104 



debtee! to the labors of Captain EdTvard Johnson, 

or its history to his recent Editor, or the great 
State Papers of the Revolution to tliat primitive 
school of diplomacy of ^vhich his Editor -n'ould 
have us believe that he was " an old master, " if 
not the chief founder. 

Wlien will all this dilettanteism about the early 
history of Massachusetts cease, and the modern 
paint and whitewash vanish from the stem 
and rugged lineaments of her justly honored 
Past? It is a disgrace to the culture of the nine- 
teenth century that a j^eriod of history for which 
the documents are so abundant should be so per- 
sistently misrepresented as the iirst century of 
New England. Their children dishonor the 
memory of the Puritan Fathers by their coward- 
ly truckling to modern prejudices, covering and 
concealing the truth — without which, History is 
worthless. 



IX. 

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS IN NEW ENG- 
LAND. 

Buntan's Pilgrim was piinted in 1678 — the 
seconel part in 1684. In the prefatory verses with 
which he introduces the latter, he says of the 
first — 

" Tis in N'eiv England under such advance, 

" Receives there so much loving countenance, 

"As to be trimmed, new cloth'd and decli't with Gems 

"That it may show its features aud its limbs, 

" Yet more, so comely doth my Pilgrim walk, 

" That of him thousands daily sing and talk." 

In Michael Perry's Inventory, printeel by Mr. 
Whitmore in the Appendix to his John Dtjnton's 



lo: 



Letters from JTeio Englaml, {Page 315) is the 
following item, 

" 3 Pilgrim's Progress with cuts 3 0." 
"We have met with no other reference to any 
copies of this early illustrated production of the 
American press — of which a specimen would 
rank next to the first edition of the New Eug 
land Primer. 



X. 

COTTON MATHER'S OPINION OF HOMER. 

"The Song of DeloraJi is a Rare Poem, and 
"one that it seems the Wicked Homer was no 
" more a Stranger to, than he was to our Eigh- 
" teenth Pe,ahn, Avlien he formed the cursed Iliad, 
"with which he brought in upon the Woild, a 
' ' Flood of Debaucheries and Impieties." Accom- 
^^plished Singer, x> 4. 

Such a prejudice as this may account for the 
curious fact, noted by the historian of Harvard 
College, in his remarks concerning the lil:)rary, of 
which the first Catalogue was printed in 1723 — 
that although the most considerable of the Greek 
and Latin classics were to he found in the collec- 
tion, there was no copy of Homer, in the original, 
among them ! Cotton Mather, however, was not 
afraid to quote "[Mr." Milton's Paradise Lost. 



XI. 

DOCTOR CHAUNCY'S CHARACTER OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT: 1747. 

The " laudatores tcmporis adV — those who 
believe that "all times when old are good " — may 

14 



103 



justly be confronted ■with the following significant 
l^assage, which indicates an earlier phase of legis- 
lative malefaction than those generally known. 
The modern assemblies of politicians at Ilarris- 
burg and Albany, seeing such ' ' footprints on the 
"sands of time" may "take heart again," and 
regard themselves as neither first nor last among 
the "forlorn" brethren who make shipwreck 
among the bars and quicksands of public opinion. 

The famous Doctor Chauncy said of that great 
and honorable body — the General Court of JNIassa- 
chusetts, in 1747 — 

" If I wanted to initiate and instruct a person 
' ' into all kinds of iniquity and double dealing, 
"I would send him to our General Court." 
E.MERSo:^'s Plrst Church : 168. 



XII. 
" PROPHETIC VOICES ABOUT AMERICA."— 
IN THE MILLENIUM. 

It has been the belief of many pious people in 
all tlie generations since the discovery of America, 
that this part of the world was to l)e the theatre 
of great events in the " last days," — that in the 
]\Iillennium state, soon to be introduced, America 
was clearly printed out iu the Revelations of God, 
as the place where this glorious scene of things 
"will, probably, first begin." Jonathan Ed- 
wards iu his day bestowed no little pains to prove 
this theory, in Avhich he was a firm believer. 

An earlier Puritan, whose name is in all the 
churches of New England, left a very emphatic 
record which will certainly show, how widely 
the authorities may differ, as perhaps it is not 
strange that they should, in matters of mere con- 
jectm'e. His declaration was : 



107 



"I know that there is a Blessed Day to the 
" visible Churcli not far off : But it is the Judg- 
" ment of very learned ]Mcn, that, in the glorious 
"times promised to the Cliurch on Earth, 
" America will 1)0 Hell. And although there 
"is a Number of the Elect of God to be born 
"here, I am verily afraid, that, in Process of 
"Time, New Exgjland will bo the wofullc.t 
"Place in all America; as some other Parts of 
"the World, once famous for Religion, are now 
" the dolefullest on Earth, perfect Pictures and 
"Emblems of llcll. "When you see this little 
^^ Academy iixMaw to the ground, — then know it 
"is a terrible thing, which God is about to 
" bring upon this Land." 

This prophetic 2)assage was taken from a discourse 
of the venerable Increase ]\Iatiier, delivered m 
the College Hall, while he was President of Har- 
vard College . Harvard Hall was totally destroyed 
by fire in 1764 — but I suppose we may continue 
to I'egard the University as still keeping the 
"little Academy" from the fall which is to be 
the precursor of the " terrible thing." 

The learned Joseph Mede was undoubtedly the 
principal authority on Avhose opinions Increase 
Mather rested with such confidence. He thought 
that the American hemisphere would escape the 
general conllagratiou at the last daj^, and that 
the peoi^le would not share in the Ijlessiugs of 
]\Iillennium. He regarded the inhabitants liere as 
colonies or descendants from the Scythians (and 
therein a notable fulfilment of the prophecy about 
the enlargement of Japhet) and to be "the Gog 
' ' and Magog whom the devil will seduce to in- 
' ' vade the New Jerusalem, with an envious hope 
"to gain tlie angelical circumstances of the people 
"there." Compare the Magnalia : Book i. Chap- 
ter i. 



108 



Mede's specnlatious are in curious contrast with 
thos2 lines of liis conteraporarj, George Herbert, 
wliich aroused the jealousj' of the autliorities at 
Cambridge, when his Temple Vv'as sent to the 
press, in 1G33. Tiie Vice ("hancellor refused to 
permit its publication unless they were erased. 

"Reliizion stands on tiptoe in our Land. 
" Eeady to pass to the American Stcaad." 

But he afterwards consented, hoping "that the 
"world would not take him to be an insphcd 
"prophet." 

Kordid all the wise and pious contemporaries 
of Increase Matlier in Nevv^ England, join in his 
endorsement of Mede's opinions, or his gloomy 
forebodings of the future of America. Samuel 
Seu'all, whom we have elsewhere had occasion to 
celebrate as ' ' the lirst Massachusetts abolitionist " 
— challenged the entire theory and its cham- 
pions in a very learned and able disquisition, in 
which he " endeavoured to prove that America's 
" name is to be seen fairly recorded in the Scrip- 
" tures," and that ' the New World . . . . 
"so far from deserving the Nicknames of Go(/ 
" and Magog . . . stands fak for being tiie 
" Seat of the Divine Metropolis." 

To do this he fairly meets and answers the 
argument of the learned and pious Mv. Mede — 
reviewing Ills famous Chapter, " D*? Gogo et 
^'- 3Ligogo in Apocab/psi Conjeeturn.''' Ilis vin- 
dication of America and especially New England 
rises into poetry towards the close — and none of 
us can refuse to sjaupathise with him as he ' ' hoi)es 
" the Cln-istian Reader will lend a favorable Ear 
" to his short Antiphony " — a mucli more cheer- 
ful prophecy than that of his great contemporary, 
Mather : 

"As long as Plum Island shall faithfully keep 



100 



" tlie commanded Post; Notwitlistanding all the 
" liertoring Words, and liaid Blows of the jK'oiid 
" and boisterous Ocean ; As long as any Salmon, 
"*' or Sturgeon shall swim in the streams of Merrl- 
'^nmd-; or any Percli. or Pickeiil, in Crane 
" Pond ; As long as the Sea Fovvl shall knovv' the 
" Time of their coming, and not neglect scasou- 
" ably to visit the Places of their Acquaintance; 
" As long as any Cattel shall l:>e fcdwith the Grass 
" grov.'ing intlic Mcdows, Avhich do humbly bow 
" down themselves before Turlie-II'dl ; As long 
' ' as any Sheep shall v/alk u])on Old Toicn Hills, 
"and shall from thence jileasanlly look down 
" upon the River Parker, and the fruitfull J/ar- 
'■'■ islieslymg beneath; As long as any free and 
" harmless l3ovcs shall find a White Oak or othei 
"Tree within the Townsliip, to porch, or feed, 
"or build a careless Nest upon; and shall volun- 
" tarily present themselves to perform the ofiico 
"of Gleaners after Barley-harvest; as long as 
" Nature shall not grow Old and dote ; but shall 
" constantly rememljer to give the rove's of Indian 
"Corn their education, by Pairs : So long shall 
" Christians be born there ; and being first made 
"meet, sliall from thence Ijo Translated, to be 
" made partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints 
"in Light. Kow, seeing the Inhabitants of 
'^ Ncwltury ^i\d. ot Kew England, upon the due 
" Oljservancc of their Tenure, may expect tliat 
"their Rich and Gracious LORD will continue 
"and confirm them in the Possession of these in- 
' ' valualjle Pjivileges : Let lis Jiave Grace, 
^'uhereoy we may serve GOD acceptably icith 
^' Peve)'ence and Godly Fear. For our GOD 
'' is a Consuming Fire. llsb. 12. 28, 29." 



110 



XIII. 

REV. NATHANIEL WARD— HIS MASSACHU- 
SETTS ELECTION SERMON IN 1641, AND 
HIS SERMON BEFORE THE HOUSE OF 
COMMONS IN 1647. HIS REPLY TO 
GOR.TON IN 1647, 

WiNTiiRor's Journal furnishes the only account 
of the Election Sermon preached by the Simi:)le 
Cohler, iulG41, of which we have any knowledge. 
' Some of the freemen, without the consent of 
' the magistrates or governour, had chosen Mr. 
' Nathaniel Ward to preach at tliis court, pre- 
' tending that it was a part of their liberty. 
' The governour (whose right indeed it is, for till 
' the Court be assembled the freemen are but 
' ])rivate persons) w^ould not strive about it, for 
' though it did not belong to them, yet if they 
' would have it, there was reason to yield it to 
' them. Yet they had no great reason to choose 
' him, though otherwise very able, seeing he had 
' cast off his pastor's place at Ipswich, and was 
' now no minister by the received determination 
' of our churches. In his sermon he delivered 
' many useful things, but in a moral and politi- 
' cal discourse, grounding his propositions much 
' upon the old Roman and Grecian governments, 
' ^vhich sure is an errour, for if religion and the 
'word of God makes men wiser than their 
' neighbours, and these times have the advantage 
'of all that have gone before us in experience and 
' observation, it is probaljle that by all these 
' helps, we may better frame rules of govern- 
' ment for ourselves than to receive others upon 
' the bare authority of the wisdom, justice, &c., 
' of those heathen Commonwealths. Among 
' other things, he advised the people to keep all 



Ill 



" their magistrates in an equal rank, and not give 
"more honour or power to one than to anotlier, 
" which is easier to advise tlian to prove, seeing 
"it is against the practice of Israel (wliere some 
"were rulers of thousands, and some but of tens) 
' ' and of all nations known or recorded. 
" Another advice he gave that magistrates sliould 
" not give private advice, and take knowledge of 
" any man's cause before it came to i^ublic hear- 
"ing. This was deliated after in the general 
" Court, where some of the deputies moved to liave 
" it ordered. But it was opposed by some of the 
' ' magistrates upon these reasons ; 1 . Because we 
"must then provide lawyers to direct men in 
" their causes. 2. Tlie magisti'atcs niust not grant 
"out original process, as now tlicy do, for to 
" what end are they betrusted with this, but that 
" they should take notice of the (cause of tlie) 
' ' action, tliat tliey miglit either divert the suit, if 
" the cause be vmjust, or direct it in a riglit course, 
"if it be good. 3. By tliis occasion the magis- 
"trate hath opportunity to end many differences 
" in a friendly way, w'itliout charge to the parties, 
" or trouble to the court. 4. It prevents many 
" difficulties andtcdiousness to the court to undcr- 
" stand the cause aright (no advocate be ug al- 
" lowed, and the parties being not able, f ;r the 
" most part to open the cause fully and cleirlj'-, 
"especially in public.) 5. It is allowed in crim- 
" inal causes, and W'liy not in civil. 6. Wliereas 
" it is objected that such magistrate is in clanger 
" to be prejudiced, answer, if the thing be law- 
" ful and useful, it must not be laid aside for the 
" temptations wliicli are incident to it, for in the 
" least duties men are exposed to great tempta- 
" tions." History of New England : ii., 35,30. 

!Mr. Savage ver}^ justly observes tliat "the advice 
' ' of the preacher was good, notwithstanding the 



113 

' ' above formidable array of arguments against 
" it." We could well excliange a good many 
scraps of theology, etc. , of the time, even from 
the writings of Winthrop himself, for a copy 
of the ' ' moral and political discourse" grounded on 
tlie Greek and Roman history with which the 
' ' some time pastor of Ipswich and still a preacher " 
instructed the Massachusetts General Court, edify- 
ing the representatives of the people, if not some 
of the magistrates. Such a commentary on the 
code of laws (of which he was also the author) 
adopted in the same year, would indeed be invalu- 
able as disclosing the foundations of the civil and 
ecclesiastical polity which it established. Espec- 
ially in view of tlie fact that those laws have 
directly or indirectly entered into, and powerful- 
1}^ influenced, the entire subsequent legislation of 
a majoiity of the United States. 

Ward went to England in the winter of 1G4G-47. 
On thenintliof June, 1647, he was appointed to 
preach before the House of Commons, on the 
next day of public humiliation. Mr. Daniel 
Cawdrey, who had been aj^pointed on the twenty- 
sixth of May, had just been excused. The other 
preacher for the day was Dr. Thomas Manton. 
Y/ard appears to have given as little satisfaction 
to the House of Commons, in England, in 1647, as 
he had, six years l)efore, to the Magistrates m 
Massachusetts. Mr. Manton received tlie thanks of 
the House, and was requested to print his sermon, 
with the usual privilege, but no further notice of 
Mr. Ward appears upon the Journal of tlie House. 

Rusliworth refers to the various preachers u])on 
the occasion — two before the Lords "and Mr. 
" Ward and Mr. Mainton (sic) before the Com- 
" mons, who had Thanks, and ordered to print 
" tlieir Sermons, save only Mr. Ward, who gave 
" Offence." Illistorical Collections : vi. 590. 



n:! 



Fortunately, liowever, ^ve are not left to con- 
jecture as to the character of his discourse and 
the causes of offence. Tlie sermon was printed 
and, aUhough extremely rare, is still accessible.* 

" A I Sermon | ])reached | before the Honourable 
' ' House of I Commons | at their late IMonethly 
" Fast, being on | Wednesday, June oO, 1647. | 
" By Nathaniel Ward, INIinister of Gods Word, 
" I London, | Printed l)y R. I. for Stephen 
" Bowtell attlie signe | of the Biljle in Pope's- 
" head Alley | 1047." 

Stephen Bowtell the Bookseller, informs the 
Header that he publishes this sermon, which by a 
special providence came into his liands without 
the knowledge or consent of the author. Indeed, 
the author, in a letter to some fiicnds accompany- 
ing a copy of the Sermon, expressly desires that 
none may take a copy "Imt such as are wise, 
"and friends to me, and have no itch to publish 
"it." He found the chief " things which pleased 
"not," were his interest in the King and his criti- 
cism of the clomgs of tlie Arm}-. It will not 
surprise any who are familiar with his other writ- 
ings, that some of his phrases met Avith little 
favor. In his ' ' perswading so much to lament the 
"King," he acknowledges that he "let fall one 
"redundant expression." 

Respecting the exceptional usage he met with at 
the hands of the House, he says, ' ' I trust I shall 
' ' not .be grieved that I was not thanked or 
" ordered to print. I am not only above, but 
" averse to both. I have had more thankesthen I 
" can tell what to do with, and many justifie 
' ' me I f eare too much, and more importunity to 

* The copy we nse belongs to the very valuable library of 
S. L. M. Bahi-ow, Esq., to whose kindness we are always in- 
debted as often as he has the opportunity to show it. 

15 



iu 



" print it than I have or shall listen to, for I see 
"the nakednesse of it well enough, this I acknow- 
" ledge grieves me sadl}', that comming a liard 
" Winter voyage over the vast Raging Seas* to 
' ' doe what service I could to my Country, in pre- 
' ' serving Truth and promotmg Peace ; I am ob- 
" structed so far as I am. I am not ignorant that 
"there are some troubled at my being here, and 
' ' watching an opportunity to weaken me and my 
" worke, which I have attended faithfully, meek- 
" ly and not without some successe, but I am 
" not altogether discouraged." 

The Sermon is from EzeTciel xix, 14, and is re- 
plete with characteristic wit and wisdom. ' ' When 
"a State hath brought itself to that passe that the 
' ' scepters of authority, and powers of Government 
' ' are wasted and weakened, it is a lamentation, and 
' ' shall bee for a lamentation. With the failure of 
" Dominion or Authority, all political order failcs 
" — Religion failes — Justice failes — Strength failes 
' ' — ^^Vealth failes. When good Government failes, 
"then the beauty and honour of a state failes — 
" Peace failes which is the soile of all felicity." 

His application is in lamentation for the Roj-al 
Scepter — the King ; the National Scepter, or the 
Parliament ; and especially that "its constitution 
"is so Heterogeneous, dissimular andContramixt" 
and its deficiencies in administration so apparent. 
His lamentation for the Martiall Scepter, or the 
Army, is very striking and emphatic ; and he 
condemns them very strongly, as having begun so 
vast and strange an enterprise without warrant, 
doubtless referring especially to the seizure of the 
King. He continues the burden of his cry to the 



•This passage confirms the opinion that Ward sailed 
from Massachusetts, witli Winslow, in December, 1646. — 
Winthrop, ii., 167, note. 



115 



■whole State and peojjle, and prefaces his conclu- 
sions by saying, " I had thought to have spoken 
' ' soniewliat of Ecclesiasticall and Domesticall 
' ' Scepters, and how weakued Scepters might be 
" restored to their strength, so far as belongs to a 
"Divine: But fearing that the State is at this 
* ' present in too violent and hot a Paroxisme to 
" take phj'sick, and that it would cost more time 
" than can be allowed, I shall here conclude witli 
"these few conclusions, which I take to be ever- 
" lasting trnthes. 

"I. That the highest honour, and weightiest 
* ' charge, God hath betrusted any of the sonncs 
"of men with, is publick authority. 

"11. That no man can sinne a greater sinne 
"against God and ]\Ien, then to cast the honour 
' ' and power of authority in the dust : The sinne 
"against the Holy Ghost excepted. 

"III. That besides the Mai- Administrations of 
"government by Magistrates themselves, there is 
" no readier way to prostitute it, then to suffer vile 
" men to blaspheme and spit in the face of au- 
"thority. 

"IIII. That if Rulers once lay publick authori- 
' ' ty wast, they will find it the difficultest piece of 
' ' work that ever mortal men tooke in hands to 
" raise it up again to its due height, and true 
" strength." 

Plis main point in all vras that of his text — the 
want of ' ' the Strong Rod, to be a Scepter to 
"rule ; " and his main offence undoubtedly was in 
liis favor towards the King. ' ' Yet, " said he, " if I 
"may believe myself, hot or cold, I am farre 
' ' from l>eing a Malignant as any man that heard 
" me." Other interesting passages might be cited, 
Avhich would illustrate the character and prin- 
ciples of the man, but we forbear — trusting to see 
the volume in a reprint, Vi'hich it richly deserves. 



116 



Neaily a ceutuiy after its appearance, it was 
brought forward again in tlie discussions "wliich 
grew out of the publication of Neal's History of 
the Puritanfi. Dr. Zacharj^ Grey, in his Examina- 
tion of that work, answering a statement of 
Richard Baxter, refers to Ward's Senuon of 1647. 
Baxter had said that " in all the Fast-Sermons that 
' ' I have read for some years after the beginning 
"of the War, I have met with no Reflections 
"upon the Person of the King, but a Religious 
" observation of that Political Maxim, The King 
"can do no wrong." Dr. Grey proceeds to show 
that Baxter was Avrong, by copious extracts from 
the Public Fast Sermons from 1G40 to 1648, 
and challenges the jiroduction of more than one 
single instance in which there is such a regard for 
the King, as asserted by Mr. Baxter. He continues : 
" There is but one Instance of this kind, that 
" I can find in the Sermons preached before 
' the two Houses ; and that is of j\Ir. Natlianiel 
' Ward, who spoke favouraljly of the King, and 
' of bringing him back agam to his Parliament, 
'in the following words: | Fast-Sermon before 
'the Commons, June oO, 1G47. printed Avithout 
' any Order of that House : J ' Let us lament and 
' ' mourn for our Royal Sceptre, that he is 
' ' weakened, and unfitted to rule; let us lament 
''his personal Sonows; Pity should be shewn 
' ' to him that is in Afiliction : let us lament that 
' 'he is dejjrived of his Royal Consort, and 
' ' Children, the Supi)orts and Delights of Nature, 
' ' th3 sweet Objects of Human Affection ; 
' 'deprived of liis wonted Honour and Attend- 
' ' ancc, liis Nobility and Compeers ; deprived of 
' ' ' his wonted menial Servants, and attended witli 
"'militarj' Guards, (unwelcome and ungrateful 
" 'to him ;) deprived of his wonted Liberty ; these 
" 'things must needs make him a Man of 



117 



' 'Sorrows; however liis Heart is supported, he 
' 'cannot l)ut look upon himself as a Man under 
''God's Blaclc Itod. If God would soften our 
' ' Hearts, to lament him as we ought, it is probable 
' ' he would soften his Heart to lament his 
' 'Subjects as he ought.' They did not present 
' him with a piece oi" Plate as usual, (especially 
' where Treason and Rebellion were the main drift 
' of the Discourse) nor desire him to print his 
'Sermon, or return him Thanks /or tlte great 
' Pains he tool\ according to Custom : a Favour 
' that I am confident was scarce ever refused to 
' any one before, in the Compass of seven Years ; 
' as ajjpears from a compleat Collection of the 
' Sermons before the two Houses, from Noveml)er 
'1(540, to February 1648, now in the publick 
'Library at Cambridge.'''' Grey's Iinpart'ial 
Examination dr., 401-2. 

Another spic}^ performance of this venerable 
Puritan belongs to the same j'car in which his 
Sinqjie Cohler and the Sermo7i before the Com- 
mons were printed. Samuel Gorton's famous 
tract against the authorities of Massachusetts had 
been published not long before Ward arrived in 
England. In it Gorton accused Ward among 
those who had insidiously attempted to "get 
" occasion against them," when ho was imprisoned 
with his followers by the Massachusetts author- 
ities, inlG43. 

"Old ]Mr. Ward, once Lecturer at St. IMichael's, 
"in Cornhill, London, came to the prison windov/, 
" and called to him, one of our society, namely 
' ' Richard Carder, who had once lived near to- 
" gether in Essex. IMr. Ward seemed to be mucli 
' ' affected, being a man knows how to put himself 
" into passion, desired the said Richard, that if he 
' ' had done or said anything that he could with 
"good conscience renounce, he desired him to 



118 



"recant it, anil ho hoped the Court would be 
' ' very merciful ; and saith he, it shall be no disj^ar- 
' ' agement unto you ; for here is ourreverend elder, 
• ' ]\h\ Cotton, who ordinarily preacheth that public- 
" ly one year, that the next year he publicly repeats 
" of, and shews himself very sorrowful for it to the 
"Congregation; so that (saith he) it will be no 
" disgrace for you to recant in such a case." 
Simplicities Defence, etc. — Rhode Island Uist- 
torieal Collections ii. 122. 7ioie. 

" Old ]\Ir. Ward's" notice is to 1:ie found in tlie 
rare tract published by Edward Winslow, in 
answer to Gorton's appeal to the pulilic througli 
tlie press — from the accusation and censure of 
' ' that Seven-Headed Church Government united 
" in New England." The entire tract is very able ; 
but no portion of itcouldbemoreto the point — for 
Ward was in London and furnished it himself : 
Winslow says — 

"In 2^(iff- 53, as he abuseth others, so Mr. 
" Cotton and IMi*. Ward, in affirming that Mr. 
" Ward put himself into a passion, and stirred 
" up Carder to recant, &c., as being no discredit 
" to him, because Mr. Cotton ordinarily preached 
"that publiquely once a yeare, which the next 
" year he recants, &c. But Mr. Ward being in 
"Towne, a man well knowne and reputecl, I 
"shewed him the Booke, and lice gave mee 
"thanks, and returned this answer to it verbatim : 
"Samuel Gorton having made mee a Margent 
'■'■ note in the 53 fage of his Bool~e, I hold myself 
" called to make this answer to it ; 1 cannot call 
" to minde that ever Il-ncw or spake icith such a 
' ' man as Richard Carder, 7ior that ever I had any 
'■^speech with any prisoner at a window, nor 
" should I 7ieed it in New-England, where there 
" is liherty enough givenforconferencewithfrison- 
'■'■ ers in more free and convenient places. This 



Ill) 



' / remem'ber, that one Robert Potter iclio went 
' in the same Ship with mee into New England, 
' and expressing J>y the -way so much honesty and 
' godlinesse as gained my good oijinion and affec- 
'■ tions toward him: I hearing that hee icas 
' ajfeded toitk Samuel Gortons Idasphemous con- 
' celts and carriages, and therefore now impris- 
' oned toith him, I went to visit him, and having 
'free speech with him in the ojyen jn-ison yard, 
' icho shedding many teares might happily move 
' metoexpressemy affection tohlm, which Samuel 
' Gorton called p)(isslon : After some debate 
' a^out his new opinions, I rememher I used a 
' speech to him to this effect : That hee should 
'doe well and wisely to moA'e such adinoicledge- 
' ment of his errours as his Conscience would 
^permit; telling him that Mr. Cotton xchom hee 
'had so much reverenced in Old England, and 
' New, had given a godly exam^jle in that Jclnde, 
'liyapuMlque aclcnotoledgcment npon a solemn 
' ]<hst day with many teares; That in the time 
' when errours icere so stlrrlncj, God, leaving him 
' for a time, he fell into cc splrltuall slumber ; and 
' had it not been for the icatchfulnesse of his breth- 
' Ten the Elders, &c., heemighthave sle2^t on; and 
' blessed God very Gordiallyfor awakening him, 
' andioas very tlianlefull to his Brethren, for their 
' watchfulnesse over him, andfalthfulnesse towards 
' him : wherein hee honoured God not a little, 
' and greatly rejoyced the hearts of his hearers ; 
' and therefore it would bee no shame for him to 
' doe the like. 

" Concerning Mr. Cotton, were I worthy, I 
' would presume to speake that now of him., 
'which I have said more then many times of him 
' elswhere. That 1 hold him such an eminent 
Worthy of Christ, as very few others have at- 
tained unto him ; and that I hold my selfe not 



120 



^'wo)'tky to icipehis slippers for matters of gi'ace, 
" learning and industry in the icorlce of God. 

'■'■For the Author Samuel Gorton, myself and 
^^ others farre more judicious, talce him to l/ee 
"a man ichose spirit is star'ke drunk icith llas- 
'■'■ pjhejnies and insolencies, a corrupter of the 
" Truth, and a disturier of the Peace ichere ever 
"7i6 comes: I intreat him to read Titus I. 13, 
" with an humhle heart, and that is the greatest 
" harm I wish him.^'' "N. "W." 

"Thus much" (adds Yv^iiislow) "of the 
' ' Answer and Testimony of that Reverend and 
' ' Grave Divine, wherein the Reader may see how 
' ' Mr. Gorton abuseth all men, ]jy casting mire 
' ' and dirt in the faces of our best deservmg In- 
" struments." Hypocrisie Unmasked: 7G,77. 



XIV. 
GILES FIRMIN AND HIS VARIOUS WRITINGS.* 

Calamy's notices of Giles Firmin, in his Ac- 
count of tlie Non-conformists (Page 295) and the 
Continuation (Page 458) furnish the principal 
source of information respecting his personal liis- 
toy. He received his education in tliat famous 
" nursery for the Puritans," the University of Cam- 
bridge, and with Dj^er's Ifad Puritanl\Q could say 

"In the honse of Pure Emanuel 
" I had my education." 

Ackermann's History of the University of Gam- 
hridge, contains a brief sketch of his life. 

"Giles Firmin, M. D. born in SufPolk 1617, 
" educated at this college [Emanuel] from whence 

* These memoranda were chiefly intended for the use of 
Mr. John Ward Dean of Boston (whose liberal and consci- 
entious fidelity to History malies it at once a pleasure and a 
duty to serve him) and at his suggestion and request are 
printed here. 



121 



"lie repaired to New Englaud, 'to enjoy,' as he 
" said, ' liberty of conscience,' and there ))ractioed 
" as a physician, -with great success, lie af ter- 
" wards returned, entered into orders, and became 
" minister at Shalford, in Essex, whence he was 
"ejected by the Act of Uniformity : and resum- 
" ing his former occupation, continued to j^ractice 
"it till his death at the age of 80, in 1G1)7. He 
' ' was a considerable writer in the controver- 
" sial divinity of the day/' Aclccrmann : ii. 
254-5. 

T\\(i Serious QueMion Stated, &>'., 4to. London, 
1G51, appears to have been his first publication. 
AVe have met with the title A Sermon against 
the Qual-ers: 4to. London. 1050 — but this is 
probaljly an error in the date of a sermon after- 
wards pul)lished against that sect. The Serious 
Question is "that little Tract upon this question 
"[denying some Cliildren Baptism] which the 
" uncivill carriage of some, in the Congregation, 
"when I had dclt lovingly with them in private 
" before, forced me to print." Separation Ex- 
amined: Page 44. lie speaks elsewhere of this — ■ 
" I would not l)aptize all in a Parish, though 
" I was affronted openlj' in the Church." Brief 
Rcvieto : Page 27. 

The Serious Question was followed in the next 
year (1652) by Separation Emmined, etc., a 
highly interesting tract. Most of his writings 
contain references to New England or his New 
Englaud exiieriences, and occasionally throw a 
stray gleam of light into obscure points. In his 
Epistle Dedicatory to this tract, he says of the 
champions of Independencj^, " I have observed 
"few people that come to stand up for Inde- 
" pendency, but they grow very tender (as they 
" call it) towards corrupt Opinions, if not 
"leavened with them themselves, not allowing a 

10 



123 



" Minister to speak against them." And again 
he says {Page 19) " Tliere was a report -vvhen 
' ' I was in Neic England, that a Carpenter re-bap- 
" tized Mr. Williams, and then he did re-baptize 
" the rest : I do not stand to defend the thing 
" whether it be true or no, but it was like enogh 
' ' to be true, and sutable to the other opinions 
" and practises of that wilde generation. Where 
' ' are we now ?" We liave liere also the authority 
of Firmin for tlie statement that he heard Nor- 
ton say — "That if the Congregational Govem- 
' ' ment did make the government of the Church 
" democratical, he would give up the cause." 
{Page 100.) This may be taken as conclusive 
testimony that Xorton could not approve tliat the 
ruling of Church affairs should be by popular 
suffrage, or tliat the People should govern theii* 
officers. Yet he doubtless believed in tlie Con- 
gregational way to the extent that the People had 
just rights and privileges that were not to be in- 
fringed. But he held that it was the Pastor's or 
Elder's part to rule, and the People's part to obey, 
and could well say, as he did to Fumin, upon 
another occasion, " 'Tis no wonder Independents 
" be unruly." A just biography of John Norton 
would throw new light upon the history of his 
times in Massaclmsetts. The Quakers whom he 
had persecuted recorded his death as a judgment 
of God : history will one day acknowledge that 
he was a victim to the pious duplicity of the peo- 
ple among whom he ministered. 

Firmin also discussed that knotty question, how 
to deal with heretical Congregations, after excom- 
munication, etc., they still going on in their here- 
sies, and says : ' ' Indeed our H'ew England Divines 
" will teache us a way how to helpe it, viz : if a 
" Synod hath declared against an Hereticall Con- 
"gregation, being jicrtinacious, and so hath pro- 



133 



• ' ceeded to non-commimion, they will call in the 
" Civil power to help * * * And thus it was 
" in New England ; when the Synod (at whicli the 
" Civill power was present, as to hear, so to keej) 
' ' Civill order) had confuted and condemned the 
" Errors and Heresies, and so was l)roke up, then a 
' ' Generall Court was called, which soon suppress- 
"ed these Heresies and brought the Churches to 
" peace again." {Page 105.) 

InlG52, Daniel Caw^drey, whom Calamy notes 
as " a Considerable Man, of eminent learning, 
' ' and a noted i\Ieraber of the Assembly of Divines, " 
wrote against Firmin, ^1 Soher Answer to a 
Serious (Question respecting BaiHism. 4to. London. 
Firmin responded in A Soher Reply to the Sober 
Answer of Mr. Ccucdrey ; also the Question of 
Mr. JJooTcer cleared with a Postscript to Mr. 
Blale. 4to. London. 1053, which appears to 
liave ended the controversy. 

In IO.jO, came* forth his onslaught on the 
Quakers: StaMisJiing against Shaking : or a 
Discovery of the Prince of Darknesse (scarcely) 
transformed into an Angel of Light, power- 
fully now working in the deluded people call- 
ed Quakers : with a sober Answer to their rail- 
ings against Ministers for receiving mainten- 
ance from their people. Being the substance 
of one Sermon preached Feb. 17. 1655, at 
Shalford, in Essex. By Giles Firmin (Pastour 
of the Church there) upon occasion of the 
Quakers troul^ling those parts. 4to. London. 
IGoO. Tills is a quarto tract, with an Epistle 
Dedicatory to the Worshipfull Dudley Templer, 
Esq., Justice of the Peace in Essex, dated 
tlie twenty-eighth of February, 1655, (2 leaves) 
To the Reader (1 leaf) and the Sermon (2^2^. 1, to 
54.) It appears that the author had "resolved 
"against medling with thjs sect," but was 



124 



" forced to it " — having been tv.-ice interrupted 
as lie Avas preaching. 

Edward Burrough, a voluminous Quaker 
writer, replied to this sermon, in a Cjuarto pamph- 
let of four sheets, printed in the same year, en- 
titled : Stahlisldiuj against Quakiny TkroiDn 
down, and overturned, a ndno Be fence found against 
it, or an Answer to a Book called Staldishing against 
Quailing, put forth 1 ly Giles Firmin, a Professed 
Minister inEssex. London. Printedf or Giles Calvert, 
at the Black-Spread-Eagle, at the AVestEnd of 
Pauls. 1656. It was reprinted in Burrough's 
Works: Page 1.j3. 

In 16.'57, Firmin edited a sennon of the cele- 
brated Stephen Marshall, whom he " knew in life 
"and attended in death," on The Poicer of the 
C ivil Magistrate in Matter s of ReUgionvindicated : 
the Extent of his Poicer determined . . . hefore 
the First Birliament, on a Monthly Fast I)ay. 
Firmin's part in this was in the shape of a Pre- 
face and Notes to the discourse which was on 1 
Tim. ii. 2. The Preface is quoted in Xeul's His- 
tory of the Puritans : iv. 19. 

In 16.58, he published J. Treatise of Schism, 
etc. ; in 1659, Tithes Vindicated, etc. ; in 1660, 
Presiyterial Ordination Vindicated ; and in the 
following year, he entered the lists against John 
Gauden, Bishop of Exeter, the author of the 
famous Ico7i Basil He. Gauden had published Con- 
siderations touching the Liturgy of tlie Church of 
England. 4to. London. 1661. Firmin's work was 
entitled, The Liturgical Considerator Con- 
sidered: or a brief Examination of Dr. Gauden's 
Gonsidercttions . . . with a Preface by 
Zachary Crofton. 4to. London. 1661. 

In 1670, he published his Eeal Christian. Cot- 
ton Mather's w^arm expressions of respect and ad- 
miration, botli for the book and its author, may 



12.1 



have bad something to do with its subsequent I'C- 
print in Boston, in 1742. "More miglit be writ- 
" ten of Mr. Giles Firmin, ^'ho visited New Eng- 
' ' laud in his younger j-ears, but afterwards be- 
' ' came, in England, an eminent preacher of the 
"gospel, and a irritei', as well as a freacher of it, 
" Among tlie rest of his books, tliat golden one. 
" which is entitled. ' The Eeal Christian,'' does 
"really prove the title to l)e his own cliaracter ; 
"and the rest, as well as that, prove him to be 
"an able scholar, as well as a real Clu-istian. I 
"suppose him to be 3'et living, in a fruitful old 
' ' age, at Ridgewel in Essex : but such demon- 
" strations he hatli still given of his affections 
"to New-England, on all occasions, that lie 
"might justly have resented it, as an injury, if 
"he had l:)een wholly omitted in the catalogue 
"of them that liave deserved well of that 
"Countrv." MagnaJia: Book III, Part IV', 
Chajiter II. 

Some expressions in this work led to a brief 
controversy between the author and his much 
more famous contemporary — Richard Baxter. 
Firmin appears to have thought that Baxter car- 
ried his views of meditation too far, in his Saints' 
Rest. Baxter says: "At this time, [1070] Mr. 
" Giles Firmin, a w^orthy minister that had lived 
" in Neic-England , writing against some Errors of 
" Mr. Ilooler, INIi'. Shepheard, Mr. Daniel Rogers 
' ' and Mr. Per tins, gave me also a gentle reproof, 
' ' for t3'iug Men too strictly to Meditation ; wliere- 
" to I wrote a short answer, called A Revieio of 
'•'■the Doctrine of Meditation.'''' Reliquioi Bax- 
ter iatiee : Fart III. 74. This answer was entitled : 
The Duty of Heavenly Meditation reviewed hy 
Richard Baxter, at the Invitation of Mr. Giles 
Pirmhi's Excej)tions ; in his Booh entitled " The 
" Real Christian." 4to. London. 1671. Firmin 



120 



soon replied with Meditations \ipOii Mr. Baxter''a 
Bevieio. 4to. n. p. 1672. 

A subsequent notice by Baxter, refeningto it, is 
as follows: "Mr. Giles Mrmin, a Silenced 
"Minister, writing somewhat against my Method 
* ' and Motions for Heavenly IVIeditation, in my 
" Saints^ Best, as too strict, and I having Answered 
' ' him, he wrote a weak Reply, which I thought 
"not worthy of a Rejoinder." IMd. 102. 

A later reference to Baxter by Firmin shows 
the substantial CJn-istian union of these brethren, 
notwithstanding nimor differences — especially as 
against those terrible heretics, the Antinomians of 
that day. Referring to ' ' Iloly Mr. Corhet, Mr. 
" Baxter, Mr. Joseph Allen, ]\Ir. Anthony Barges, 
" etc," Firmin says "when I dye, I choose rather 
"to have my Soul gathered with theirs then with 
" any Antinomian in England, though I question 
" not the salvation of some of them..'''' Brief Re- 
view, 29. 

The Questions "between the Conformists and 
Non-conformists truly stated and briefly discuss- 
ed, in answer to Dr. Falkner, and the Friendly 
Debate. 4to. 1681. 

Cotton Mather gives an extract from this pam- 
phlet in his Magnalia ; in the Appendix to his 
Life of Mr. Nathaniel Rogers, Book III, Chapter 
XIV. 

A Plea for the Children of Believing Parents. 
8vo. London. 1683. 

In 1687, Thomas Grantham published his 
Presumption no Proof of Mr. Petto" s ai'guments 
for infant bapitism, answered : whereunto is pre- 
iixed an answer to two questions by Mr. Firmin 
about infants church -membership and baptism. 
4to. London. 1687. To this, Firmin responded 
in his Scripture Warrant sufficient Proof for 
Infant Baptism, being a Reply to ]\Ir. Gran- 



127 



tham's Presumption no Proof. 12mo. London. 
1688 ; and another pamphlet, iu the following 
year, AnAnsicerto Mr. Grantham's vain Ques- 
Q'uestion. etc. 4to. 1G89. 

His Weighty Questions Discussed, etc. 4to. 
London, 1692, is advertised among the works on 
Divinity, in a Catalogue of Books continued. 
Printed and Published in London, in Michaelmas- 
Term, 1693, as follows : 

"35. Weighty Questions discussed, whether 
"Imposition of Hands in separating a Person to 
' ' the work of the Ministry be necessary : Also 
' ' whether the teaching Elders, and the Members, 
' ' ought to meet always in one place. Whereunto 
" is added a prediction of ]\Ir. Daniel Rogers, 
' ' ]\Iinister in Essex long before the beheading K. 
" Charles the First, and Arch-Bishop Laud, 
' ' foretelling that they should not dye a Natural 
"Death; by Giles Eei'jnin Author of the Real 
" Christian, 4to. price 6(Z." 

This " little pamphlet gi-eatly pleased ■' George 
Porter, Canon of Christ Church and sometime 
Proctor of the University at Cambridge. 

Another work of his was Some Eemarls upon 
the Anabaptists Ansicer to the Athenian Mercur- 
ies. 4to. 

By far the most interesting (to us) of all the 
^^Titings of Firmin which have fallen under our 
notice is the following : 

Uavspyia A Brief Review of Mr. Davis'' s Vindi- 
cation : giving no Satisfaction. Being For the 
greatest part of it, no direct Answer to what ia 
charged upon him ; but meer Evasions, to de- 
ceive his Reader. Things that tends to prac- 
tise, are chiefly insisted upon : Other things 
but lightly touched. To which is added, Re- 
marks upon some Passages of Mr. Cris2) in his 
Book, Entituled, Chi'ist alone Exalted. The 



128 



Reason of the Autlior's Engaging in tliis Con- 
troversy, is given in the Preface to the Reader. 
By Oiles Pirmin, one of the United Brethren. 
Marh them which cause Divisions and Offences, 
contrary to the Doctrine lohichye have Learned, 
and avoid them. Rom. 16.17. The God of 
Peace, shall braise Satan under your Feet 
shortly. Ibid. v. 20. Loudon. Printed for 
John Lawrence, at the Angel in the Poultrey. 
1693. 

The Author's Preface to the Reader presents in 
some passages a grapliic picture of the dissen- 
sions in Massachusetts, in 1637 ; and his personal 
references are the more striking in view of the scarc- 
ity of such memorials of the actors in those 
scenes. The tract is so rare that we need make 
no apology for reproducing all this part of it. 

* ' To THE Reader. 
4 <a npilE Book Entituled, the Horrible Plague 
JL ' ' begun at Rowel, &c., tcassent to me, l>y 
' ' an unhioion Hand : When I read it, I found my 
" Name mentioned, p. li.my Brethren might have 
'■'■named others, far letter than my self ; hut they 
" icere 2}lecfsed to mention my Kame alone. I had 
" no thoughtsto meddle with the Controversy ; hut 
'•'■reading Mr. Davis Vindication* of himself, and 
" ohserving he found fault with that, for tchich 
" they named me : I resolved to defend that Doc- 
" trine, lohich Ihad delivered; andfor which they 
" qiioted me. 
" As for these Antinomian Tenets, vented hy Dr. 

Davib, Eiohabd, Truth and Innocency vindicated 
against Falsehood and Malice expressed in a late Pam- 
phlet entitled: A True Account of a most Horrid aud 
Dismal Plague begun at Rothwell, &c., to which is 
added, Mr. Robert Betson's Answer to so much as concerns 
him in the said Libel. 4to. London. 1093. 



129 



" Crisp,* and Mr. Davis, / ?iave Reason to he ac- 
^^ quainted ioith them: First living in an An- • 
"tinomian Family, ahoiit 6G years since, when 
^'Iicas a School-Boy. During the three years of 
" 7ny living there, [giving them their 0'pinions,'\ it 
" wasaswellordered a Family, asanyin the Toicn, 
^•strictly observing the Lords Day. One Notion 
" I observed there, tohichlnever heard before, nor 
'■' since : It was the Inter'pretationof the Revel. 
"13. 1. It icas a Manuscrij)t fastned to a board. 

"I saw a Woman Clothed with the Sun. [ That 
" is, the Church Clothed with the''Righteousncss of 
'■'■ Christ, ^0 7<e?* Justification] and the Moon, [that 
' ' is, Sanctification] under her Feet. 

" After I icent from thence to Cambridge, and. 
'■\from thence i(? New-England ; wpon my return 
'■'■hither, I visited the lamily : As to their 
" Morals, tlicy held very sober : But as to their 
" 02nnions, more corrupt. 

" The Lords Day, toJcich they did so strictly ob- 
" servebefore, and did not noio openly profane it, 
" yet the Morality noid is denyed ; and one of the 
" Company, who did answer his Name, (Mudw«s 
" 7a's Name, and a very Muddy i^bZ^^o he was) 
^'■brought them to these Op>inions ; 

"1. If there were any such thing, as Sm in the 
" World, God was the Author of it ; [as for Sin, 
" being Res or Ens, they did not under sta^id that.] 

" 2. As dyeth the Beast, so dyeth Man, denying 
"a Future State. I all eel ged that in i Cor. 15. 
"19. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ, 
"we are of all Men, the most jSIiserable : They told 



• Chisp, Samuel, Christ alone Exalted, in Dr. Tobias Crisp's 
Sermons, in Answer to Mr. D. Williams Preface to his 
Gospel Trath stated. 4to. London, 1693. 
Tobias Crisp, the father of this writer, was the atithor of 

the volume entitled " Christ alone Exalted, etc." a 12 mo. 

volume, published in London, in 1643. 

17 



130 



"to^?, that was a Text something hard to an&ioer; 
'■'■'but they thought it onight he answered: But 
" there I left them, and never saw them more : 
" When ice can rnaVe nothing of lesser Errors, 
' ' Ood may give us uj) to them, which are gross. 

" Wheii I returned tol^evf-'E\\g\an(\.; heforeour 
^^ Shij) came into Harbour, a Shallop coining of 
" Shore to t(S, the Men told us, the Churches were 
" on fire. I was amazed to hear it ; for I left 
" them all in Unity and Peace. When I came on 
" Shoar, Iwastold, the Heat, tlie Animosities were 
" so high, that they locreready to lay Handson their 
"■ Swords, to drain one against another. Mr. 
" Wheelwright a Minister, acted his part there, as 
'■'•Mr. Ji^Vx?, doth here. All the Discourse teas 
" about Justification, and tlie Assurance of it by 
" the immediate Testimony of the Spirit, or an 
'■'■ absolute promise apiplyed by the Spirit. To 
'■'■ speah of Conditional 2y>"omises, SanctificaUon, 
^'■or Marls, was a Marie of one under tlie Coven- 
'■'■ ant of Worls ; a ferson to be despised. 
'■^ A Zealot, whose Name I see in the Booh put 
^\forth by Mr. Weld; / ashed him, I jrray 
^' thee tell me, ichat is Justification, thoii. art so 
•'■hot only upon it? He answered me, trul}' 'tis 
"so great a thing, that I do not know what it is. 
" As for any inherent worhwroughtby the Spirit, 
'■'■in the Hearts of sound, believers, this was slight - 
'VcL It fell out so, when I came on shoar, that 
' ' the Governor with whom I lived before, teas not at 
^'home*: Oiir Pastor, loas gone loith the Souldiers, 
" to the Pequit TF«r.f I could not tell whether to 



* On the twenty-third of Jane, 16S7, Governor Winthrop 
made a progress to Sagus, and so to Salem and Ipswich, re- 
turning on the twenty-eighth. Two ships arrived from 
London during his absence. Savage's Wintheop: i. 227. 

t John Wilson, the Pastor of the Boston Church, was ap- 
pointed by lot, on the seventeenth of May, 1637, " to go fourth 
" with the souldiers against the Pecoits," Mass. Records : 



131 



^'■go; hut 3frs. llwichX^ovLS Soiv' being m>j 3fess- 
^' mate in the Sliip, lie carryed me to liis Mothers 
'■'House, tchere I eat my first Meal : Discoursing 
" of several things at 2\ihle [though I had not seen 
" Mr. Cotton our Teacher ; being chosen to Office, 
" while I was in Enyland, f] I told them, I heard 
" sucli things charged uiion Mr. Cotton; ichichldid 
" believe, he icould never oicn ; \Jte told me himself 
"hoic he was abused by the7n,w7ienlgrew acquaint- 
"edwith Jiim^Mrs. Hutchison, aslcedme, what it 
' ' was? I told her, that he should say, tliere was no 
"diffeioace between the Graces wrought in a child 
" of C4od, and v.'hat was wrought in an Th^jocritc : 
" Several at the Table said, they never heard Mr. 
"Cotton deliver any such thing; yes]said Mrs. 
"Hutchison, he hath delivered something lihe it : 
" Will, said she, any Body say there is? Thensho 
"and If ell to our worlc ; sli.e was soonjnct to silence; 
' • th is teas the first and the last Discourse, that ever 
" Ihad with her. Mr. Dyer, the Husband of her 
" that brought forth that horrid ^[onster ;% he 
" icould. have Christ to be the New Creature, and 
" would 2)>'ove it from the Greelc Text, 2 Cor. 5. 17. 
" 61 Tiy fv \f)i(TTw, Kaivr) KTiais joyning Kaivq KTiais 
" icith xpioTM by Apposition, and so would read it 

i. 195. He returned from the expedition on the fifth of Au- 
gust, 1637. Savage's Wintheop: i. 235, Compare the Short 
Storij, etc., Loudon. 1644. Page 25. 

* Winthrop notices, under date of the twelfth of July, 16.S7, 
the arrival of a brotlitr of Jlrs. Hutchinson, concerning 
whom Mr. Savage says " what ship he came in, who he was, 
or where he lived, are all unknown." Savage'b Wintheop : 
i. 233. 

t John Cotton was ordained Teacher, on the tenth of Oc- 
tober, 1633. 

t luH.sr. Public EeconlO.tUce, Colonial Papers, Yo]. ix. 
74, is a " Description of a monstrous birth at Boston in New 
" England, brought forth by Mary, wife of William Dyei-, 
" sometime milliner in the New Exchange in London. Cer- 
" titled by John Winthrop, gent, of the Massachusetts, who 
" saw it." Sainsburv's Calendar: 259. Compare Savage's 
Wintkro2): i. 261-263 



133 



'■'■thus : If any Man be in Christ, tlie New Crea- 
"ture ; had he leen at school, his false Grammar, 
" might have cost him a lash* Our Pastor Mr. 
"Wilson, a jti'^cious Saint, he teas despised hi/ 
' ' them ; though a Man of a singular Sjjirit. Our 
" Governour, old Mr. Jolm Winthrop,f a Man for 
" Grace, high afprehensions of God, Self-denial, 
^'■spending all his Estate for the Common good, 
" teas one of a thousand, he loas slightly esteemed 
' ' ly them. One of this Antinomian Gang, hecause 
" he was a Memher of the Church; in the Debates 
"they had in the Church, calls him Brother 
" Govemour, when he sp>al'e to him. I thinl-, 
" Christianity dothnotteach Men to deny Civil Ite- 
*' spect, and Honour to Magistrates : But thus did 
" our TrouMes continue, till the Synod having Con- 
*^demned their Errors, Mrs. Hutchison Excom- 
' ' municated, Mr. Vaughan \who ichen Governm-, 
' ' was tlie great Favourer and Maintainer of these 
' ' Errors, and did animate th at Fact ion'] hy the Free- 
' ' Men cast out from ieing so much as an Assistant; 
" so he and Mr. Wheelwright left tis : The Heads 
" of that party removed from us, then our Trou- 
" ties iegan to cease, Sanctification came to be in 
"■some Bequest again ; and there were Notes and 



* "The work of inherent holinesse which maketh ns new 
" Creatui'es, is a distinct thing from Christ his person : thouch 
" among our New England notions, this was received when 
" the errours raged there, that Christ was the new Creature; 
" but for the 2 Cor. 5. 17 they made miserable Grammar of the 
" verse," etc. Stablishing against Shaki7ig: p. 35. Compare 
also Hubbard's notice of this specimen of "Familism," in 
his account of the Synod of 1637. General History of Neiv 
England^ Second Edition, 303. 

t Firmm refers to Winthrop in another work — "that 
"worthy and honourable man Mr. iriwW/'O/*, who was a 
"solid man, a good scholar, and naturall Philosopher, fitted 
" to speake excellently, and did sometimes, before Mr. Uot- 
" ton went over to Neic England, when the officers desired 
" him, but I never heard whether he did, after Mr. Cotton 
"came." Separation Examined, S7. 



133 



" JMarks ghenofa good Estate : Itooh Nvtkc ichen 
" the iDord was first used, and what the IMark icas. 
" 17ie Insolent, Pi-ovd Carriages of that Party in 
" New-England, mal-esme tohave no good OiJvnion 
' ' of them in England. Whatwoful work, the Tur- 
^'■hulent Spirit of Mr. Davis, withYWs, Gospel 
" [?i«i Chi-ists] hath made, we hear from several 
"2'^i'ts. 21ie Pastor of a Church near ns oeing 
" dead, word was sent there were two Ministers, 
" whose Churches Mr. Davis had lirolcen, they 
" might have which they icotild ; with divers others 
' ' lesides. Many things I read in Mr. Davis witlt 
^'■Abhorrency, and would have spolcen tothem ; l)ut 
'■'■that I saw my Sheets increasedheyond my Inten- 
'•'■tiun : I chose rather to speah to them, which 
" were more practical. If in the close of my Days, 
" I may do cmy Service to the Chu,rch of Christ, 
'•[while others who have hetter Parts and, Grace, 
" ioill do more :] I shall have cause to walk Jiumb- 
" ly and than J fully before the Lord for it. 
"The unworthj^est of 
*' Christs Ministers. 
" Giles Firmin. 
' ' died (/'well 
" yli>?-i^ 34.93." 

Such vivid recollections, af tei' the lapse of more 
lliau half a century crowded with the most stir- 
ring events of the history of his country, clearly 
sliow how sharp and distinct the original im])rcs- 
sions must have l:)een in the mind of the youthful 
Puritan, as he moved among the stern men and ear- 
nest women who laid the foundations of New Eng- 
land. Such reminiscences as those of Wintliro[), 
and Wilson, and especially tlie writer's encounter 
with that " Master-piece of Women's wit, " Anne 
Hutchinson, lend a new interest to the history of 
his ovrn carcei', Would that we could find, some- 



134 



■where, her version of this " first and last dis- 
" course" with the young physician, in which 
" she was soon put to silence." It is difficult to 
believe that a strange youth of twenty could 
achieve such a triumph over such a woman, among 
a large conij)any, in her own liouse, and at her 
own table. Yet he undoubtedly thought he had 
the best of the argument ; and if he ruled his own 
spirit, cei'tainly won a victory, which the impar- 
tial verdict of History can not ascribe to the lay 
and clerical tormentors who worried the brave 
v>'omau through examinations so long tliat they 
were nearly "sick with fasting," before they pro- 
nounced tiie sentence of banishment, evidently 
agreed upon before-hand. 

There are several other piquant references to the 
Antinomians of New England, scattered through 
tlus tract, of which the latter portion, "Against 
" Lay Preachers," is very cogent and spicy. The 
v/riter's ISTev*^ England acquaintances and expe- 
riences constantly reappear ; and his anecdotes are 
always highly pertinent and well applied — though 
some of them v/ould hardly bear repetition 
here. Both Old and New England were mightily 
disturbed in his tune, by " gifted brethren," who 
found ample opportunity to exercise theh gifts, 
when any man might become a preacher, and al- 
most any preacher could collect a congregation. 
Firmin tells us that ]^Ir. "Ward called it exorcis- 
ing their gifts — aprojjos of an unsavory etojy 
about cue " bog- fellow," whose name he con- 
ceals. 

"As for your Meclianicls, which you have 
" sent out, as your Apostles, I look upon them, 
"as I do upon all these Lay Preachers in Eng- 
" land, now risen up in this boundless Liberty, 
"to be but the Devils Design, first to Debase the 
"Ministry, and then to ovcrtliroio it. I can re- 



135 



" member the time very well, Avlien the Ministry 
"of England was in Honour, and Converting 
" \York went on : No sacli Debauchery was 
' ' known or heard of in the Gentry and Ministry, 
' ' as is now. But when Bp. Laiid and his party 
"fell to Persecuting, Silencing, and driving 
" Ministers out of the Nation, and Wars follow- 
" ing, Buff -Coats and Red-Coats getting into 
"Pulpits, the Religious were they, that gave the 
"first blow to the Ministry; with our Armies, 
"rose up an Army of Errors, and these did the 
"business, having got the Sword in their Hand, 
"to trample upon the Ministiy. "^^Hien the King 
"came in and almost Two Thousand Minis- 
"ters cast out in one day. For the generality, 
" they were filled up with such, that they who 
' ' Honoured the Minister, could not Honour them ; 
"and how many such are there at this day: 
" then came in this boundless Toleration, that I 
"have been told by such Magistrates, that are 
" our Friends they have been ashamed, when they 
"sate in the Court, to see what fellows came in, 
" and demanded Licenses. And this is another 
"fruit of the English Independencj^, they have 
" done no Service to the Church, that have writ- 
' ' ten and pleaded for the gifted Brethren, and 
' ' bring in this Confusion ; Had it not been for 
"Learned Men, there had not been one Lay- 
" Preacher in England: poor Men, they could 
"not have understood two words of the Bible: 
* ' But now, Learned iMen have given them the 
"Bible in their own Language, they insult our 
"Learned Men, and despise Learning. But 
" better all your gifted Bretlu'cn, and your Books 
"with them, were buryed in the Earth, then 
" Learning should be lost. It was not Godliness, 
' ' but Learning, which God used immediately, to 
' ' rescue us out of the Papal darkness : And if 



13S 



' ' Learning once were gone, soon ■would the 
" Popish party make a prey of England.'''' 

Firmin also quotes passages of letters to him 
"out of New England " from Mr. Shephard, 
whom he calls "a Master-Workman," and from 
"that Acute, Learned and Oodly Divine, Mr. Nor- 
ton. Both these passages he had printed before, 
the former in the Beal Christian, {Page 55. 
Compare Pages 19, 214,) ; and the latter in the 
Epistle before the Treatise of ScMsm. 

He concludes this tract with a pithy criticism 
upon the "liigh commendation" his antagonist 
had given of himself, and contrasts his pride 
with the humility of ' ' that Eminent Servant of 
" Christ, ]\Ii\ Tliomas IIooTccr in New England. 
" . . . This Holy Man kept up the Assur- 
" ance of God's love above twenty years, walking 
" with God : I won it hy Fasting and Prayer, 
^'^ and if I loose it, I icill loose it hy Fasting and 
' ' Prayer, said lie ; and as I was informed by a 
"worthy gentlemen, when he lay on his Death- 
"Bed, his Church came to him standing about 
" his Bed ; and now came to hear the last words 
" of their Eminent Pastor, what he would leaTS 
"with them: Tliis Eminent Man, making a 
' ' pause a while, he breaks out with the Publican : 
^' Lord have Mercy vi^on mc, a Sinner. O Gra- 
" cious. Humble Heart." 

This is an interesting addition to Cotton 
]\Iather's account of the death of ' ' The Light of 
'■'■the Western Churches'' — one of "The 
"First Threer 



137 



XIV. 



THE CROSS IN THE KING'S COLORS IN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
[Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 4888. ff. 86-91.] 
The second jmrt of y& Frier^s case mentiond & 
recited in the Roman Horsleech, or an account 
of an as famous & rideculous action & Bisfute 
that hapx>end in New Englcmd ahout ?/« Year 
1683 whether y^ Red. Cross in the Banner of 
England loas an Idol or no^ with y^ argu- 
ments urged on both sides. 

In 1633 or whereabouts when people were Reve- 
lation mad and drunk with seism & blind zeal 
one* of ye chief men of Boston in New England 
being then in authority & warmd with a lecture 
against that which ye Ignorant call supersti- 
tion, with a daring Impudence set up for a Re- 
former of ye Kings Colour's & haveiug taken ye 
same in his saiictif^d hands took his conscience 
to Avitness against a monstrous Idol that he found 
there in, to witt, a great Cross, & there upon 
drawing his Knife bravely cut it out with a great 
deal of self satisfaction &, applause & ye next 
day boldly confessed & defended ye same. 

Tiiis uuparralel'd Act created gi-eat differences 
in ye Town, amongst all sorts of People, as well 
amongst those Avho have nothing to do with af- 



* A marginal note on the original manuscript says : " it 
" was Sr. Harry Vane ;" but this is an obvious error, for Vane 
did not come to New England until 163.5, and John Endicott 
was the well known witness against the cross on this oc- 
casion. Indeed, Vane's overruling the over-scrupulous 
brethien in the subsequent affair of the Hector, when the 
flag was finally displayed in spite of the'r authority, on the 
personal responsibility of Vane and Dudley, was among the 
first occasions of the opposition which ultimately broke him 
down. 

18 



138 



fairs of sucli a nature as tliose that had in so much 
that ye very women were tit to pull coive's about 
it. As for ye common Soldier's who had as lit- 
tle of Religion as Courage or Honesty amongst 
them, mostof them commended ye Act declairing 
that theyd sooner turn Heathen's & yield to ye 
Enemy than follow or light under a Popeish 
Idol, a Cross (Lord have mercy upon us I) they'd 
have no more to do with now than with him tliat 
sufferd upon one. Yet others amonst tliem 
mantaind ye Lawfulness there of, & that they 
would not deny following ye same in their col- 
ours least that they should seem to cast of their 
allegiance to ye Ci'own of England. 

At length this mighty ]\Iatter was carryd on 
with such fury that ye whole Collony seemd to 
])e in an ujjioar, so that the General Court were 
forced to take it into then' Cognizance, where af- 
ter a great Bustle & Stir a Committe was chosen 
& appointed Ijoth l)y ye Magistrates and People, 
of ye Freemen of ye Collony to examin into 
ye Matter, ^vhere after man}' teadious Debates, 
It was carryed by three votes : that tho' their Bro- 
ther had done well & acted like a good tender 
conscion'd Christian, that yet nevertheless he had 
not done prudentlj^ ; and tho that he did not de- 
serve any punishment for ye Act it self, yet that 
he oaglit to be discluirged his place in ye Gov- 
ernment for ye same for going so bunglingly 
about it, & for fear that tlieir Charters & Privi- 
ledges should by a seizure from ye King make an 
attonemcnt for ye same. Upon which he was 
called in Court and tliis cruel, hard, Sentence of 
Deposition passd mildly upon him — & he himself 
Registerd amongst ye St & Sufferer's of ye 
Lord for ye Testimony that he bore against a 
Popeish Idol. Yet at ye same time did they fully 
agree that seeing that je Cross was cut out, & that 



139 



it undoubtedly vras a Badg of Antichrist & a 
Mark of ye Limlj of y^ Divel, & that no one of 
their side ye Great Dike had any Power to put 
it in again, that therefore ye use of it should be 
forljorn for ye future amongst them, for fear 
that ye People should turn Idolater's & God 
should bring upon them beside's ye Plague's of 
Impudence, Herese}', Seism, Blind Superstition 
& such like, all those not half so ill ye Ten pla- 
gues of Egypt. 

The Reverend Spite-Fire's that were summoud 
from all ye Country round & commanded to lay 
their heads together u])on this weighty Matter 
argued against ye use of ye Gross in ye Banner 
tlius : 

The question, sayd they, is not "whether a 
private Man may not march aftei- liis colour's, 
which have the Cross in them : for ye Christian 
Legions never scrupled following ye Labarum of 
ye Roman Emperor's which was an Idolatrous 
Ensign. Yea ye .Jews themselves that made sucli 
earnest Suit first unto Pilate & then unto Petrouius 
to have such an Idolatrous Ensign removed 
from ye Avails of their Temple : yet without auy 
scruple followd it in ye field. Nor is it ye ques- 
tion (sayd they) vv-hether ye Cross may be used 
in our Colours, as a Charm to protect us from our 
Enemys, or to defend us from Disasters, or to pro- 
cure Victorys unto us. tho' ye faith wcliye 
Roman Catholicks have in it, mentiond by Ilove- 
den in ye Reign of Henry ye Sd, v»'hen England, 
France & Flanders distinguished themselves bj- 
their varietys of it. Ever since retained, is abom- 
inable to all real Protestants. But ye question 
is whether ye Cross as representing ye Cross of 
Christ, erected as a Badg of Christianity, & a 
Sign of Distinction between Christians & Infidels 
may by any Prince or St;ite, b-e iiov; in tlirir 



140 



Banners reserved & einployd i This they ap- 
proved not, & that for all these daughty Rea- 
son's. 

First— That wliich God liath commanded 
utterly to l^e destroyd should not be retained for 
ye important uses of Men. But God has com- 
manded ye Cross in ye Banner to be destroyd. 
this may l)e thus proved Images of Idols are com- 
manded utterly to l^e destroyd ; But ye Cross in 
ye Banner is ye Image of an Idol, & ye greatest 
Idol in ye church of Rome. As for ye Text in 
Deutr: where this is commanded it dos affect 
christians as well as Jews, because that ye moral 
Reason of ye command yet continues. If that 
it be objected that then the Temples of Idols were 
to be destroyd, it may be answerd — -Theodo- 
sius made a Law that they should be so. How- 
ever we may distinguish between Temples dedi- 
cated unto God by Creatures, ye Papists wliich 
Aquinas deny their Temples to have been dedi- 
cated unto Sts . But afhrm them dedicated unto 
ye honour & service of God for his Blessings 
communicated bj' Ye S^ whose names are used 
on this occasion, these Temples lieing purgd from 
their superstitious Designation's may be still 
used for our Christian assemblys, as our Saviour 
used ye Jewish Water Pots to turn Water into 
Wine, tho' they were superstitious Purifications 
for which they were placed there. 

odly There is no Civel Honour to be given to 
ye Image of an Idol, ye 2d Commandment for- 
bids all sorts of Honour not onely sacred, [)ut Civel 
also to such an Image, Yea, and elswhere all 
mention of it with honour is ])rohibited. But now 
to advance the Cross into ye Banner is to put a 
Civel & no little honour uptm it, it is ye Cross in 
ye Ensign which dos insignize & render it Ensign, 
& it was ye Intention of Coustantine to honour 



141 



ye Cross wheu he interdicted all execution's -of 
Malefactors upon it, & advanced it into his ban- 
ner. 

ocily If ye Figure of ye Altar in Damascus might 
not be used as a Badg of ye Religion & Profes- 
sion of ye Israelites, tlienye Figure of ye Cross may 
not he used as a Badg of ye Religion & Profession 
of ye Protestants, for there is a like jjropor- 
tion, for ye Pajjists regard ye Cross as ye Altar 
where on Our Lord was offerd ; now sucli a 
figure of an Altar was unlawfull to ye People of 
God. 

4'y That which was Execrable to Our Lord ; 
ye Sign of it should not be honourable to us, but 
so was ye Cross or Our Lord, for it made his 
Death accursed, nor was it a pure Instrument of 
meer Martyrdom unto him . 

5ly If thePartakeing of Idolothytes in ye Places 
where ye Idols are worshipd, express a Commun- 
ion with Idols & Idolaters ; then ye setting up 
of ye Cross in ye Places where Idolaters do wor- 
ship it, namely in ye Banner, is an Expression of 
Communion in their Idolatry. Tis true such 
meats when sold in ye Shambles might be eaten 
Avithout scrapie of Conscience ; but besides this 
that it was onely a common place where these 
might be eaten, whereas 3 e Cross in ye Banner is 
in j'e Temple where ye apocaliptic Gentiles adore 
it. Besides that they were Creatures of God, 
whereas j-e Cross in ye Banner is onely a human 
Contrivance, so if it had been Lawfull for a man 
to have bought ye silver Slnines of Diana & 
liave causd them to l)e woni for ye Cognizance 
of his family or his attendants : ye Cross might 
perhaps have been lawfully used in ye Banner for 
a Cognizance. 

Lastly — If ye first use of ye Cross in ye Ban- 
ner by Constantine was superstitious, then ye fi]-st 



143 



fruits being unclean ye whole Lump of ye follow- 
ing use is also unclean : But Eusebius tells us 
that ye Emperor used this Saveing Sign as a pro- 
tection against all warlike & hostil Powers, & 
Sosomen tells us — tliat ye Emperor changed ye 
Image of ye Roman Labarum for ye Sign of 
ye Cross, that so ye Soldiers who wliere accustom- 
ed to worship ye Heathen Imperial Ensign, by 
ye Continual sight and Worship of ye Cross 
might be weaned from their Country rights & 
brought to worship that God alone whose Sign it 
was. 

On ye othei-side they that pleaded for ye use of 
ye Cross in ye Banner, argued after this fashion. 
To state ye question wee must know that it is nec- 
essary that there should be a Banner displayd, & a 
Banner with a cross in it serves the End of a Banner 
as much as any other. Had ye Cross never been 
superstitiously abused, the Civel use of that figure 
could not be questiond. But ye superstitious 
abuse is a thing that is added unto ye Civel use, 
& accordingly ye superstitious abuse may again 
be removed from it, otherwise Vv'hat a Desolation 
of Bells & other things must be produced by a 
just Reformation of superstition ? Wherefore if 
ye Present Authority dos neither appoint nor de- 
clare any superstition in ye observation of any 
civel usage, ye superstition of that usage is at an 
End. Thus tho' it be notoriously known that 
many Person's in Authority have their superstitious 
conceits about Churches : yet, inasmuch as there is 
no Injunction of Authority upon private Persons 
to approve any such Conceits, tis no superstition 
in such Persons to use those churches unto Law- 
full uses or pm-poses. Ye Question then is whether 
ye Civel use of ye Cross in ye Banner may not 
be separated from ye superstitious abuse of it. 
And it seems as it may — 



148 

First— If names that have Ijeen aljused for 
ye honour of Idols may in a civel way be still 
used : then things that have been so abused may 
be in ye like manner used for a civel Distinction. 
But we iind ye names of Apollo and Phoebe & 
ye like used in ye Ajwstolic Salutations, altho' it 
had been a less difficulty for those persons to 
have changed ye names at first sinfully imposed 
upon them: than for ye Cross in ye Banner to be 
now wholylayd aside, if any Heathen King put an 
honour upon liis Idol Bell by saying O Beltesha- 
zar, ye Spiiit of God may speak it without any 
honour at all to that Idol. 

2_dly It is one tiling to describe a Cross as an 
Artificial thuig by way of Civel Signification, & 
another thing to employ a Cross as a Sacramental 
thing, by way of sacred ol)servation & in ye Ban- 
ner tis ye former, not ye latter way that it is 
considered. Wlien I am relateing how a Papist 
crosses himself, I may lawfully express it by mak- 
ing an Aerial Cross like his. Where as it would 
not be lawfull for me to make such a Cross upon 
ye same ends with him. 

3dly If that ye Cross first used by Constantine 
had m it any thing unwarautable, if follows not, 
that ye following use of it, is of ye same Lump 
with j-e first, for if it now be used upon another 
Design the uncleaness is taken away. Besides 
Constantine bi-ought ye Cross with a'* much un- 
warantableness into his Coin's as he did into his 
I)anner, V)ut tis certain that there are few or none 
this day that Avould refuse money tho' they got 
thereon a Popish Idol, but would set mighty 
esteem on it je bigger & ye better ye Cross 
was. 

4ly Meats, tho' sacrificed unto Idols might be 
eaten when sold & bought in ye Market. Now 
a Cross is an Effect of Art h is a Creature of 



144 



Gods as well as any of Ye meats bre'd & cooked 
by men. 



XV. 

CERTAINE PROPOSITIONS FOR THE BETTER 
ACCOMODATING THE FOREIGNE PLAN- 
TATIONS WITH SERVANTS REPORTED 
FROM THE COMMITTEE TO THE COUN- 
CELL OF FOREIGNE PLANTATIONS. [Cina 
1684.] 

[S. P. O. Colonial Entry Book. No. 92. p. 2T5.] 

1. It being universally agi'eed that people arc 
the foundation and inprovement of all plantations 
and that people are encreased principally by send- 
ing of servants thither, it is necessaiy that a settled 
course be taken for the furnishing them with 
servants. 

2. Servants are either blacks or whites. 

3. Blacks are such as are brought by waye of 
trade and are sould at about £20 a head one with 
another and are the priuci])an and most usefuU 
appurtenances of a plantation and are such as are 
perpetuall servants. 

4. Whites are such as are diverse waies 
gathered up here in England, verie few from Ire- 
land or Scotland and being transported at the 
charge of about £6. a head are there entertained by 
such as they are consigned to from hence or are 
exchanged for comodities with such as have occa- 
sion for them at diiferent rathes according to theire 
condicon or trade by wcli they are rendred more 
usefull and beneficiall to theire masters. These 
after certaine yeares are free to plant for themselves 



145 



or to take wages for theire service as they sliall 
aggree and have to the valkieof tenn pounds stei'l. 
to begin j)hnitiug lor themselves. 

5. The vvaies of ol)tayning these servants liave 
beene usually by employing a sorte of men and 
women who make it theire profession to tempt or 
gaine poore or idle persons to goe to the Planta- 
tions and haveing persuaded or deceived them on 
shii)p ))oard they receive a reward from the person 
who employed them. 

6. Wlieu the shipjjs is to be cleared at Graves 
End ofttymes the servants soe ol)tayned doe make 
compLiint that they were forced or seduced and 
some cunning rogues after they have beene fedd 
aboard j)erhapp3 a month or longer doe l)y this 
meanes a\'oyd the voyage. 

7. For the prevention of the many evills wch doe 
happen iu the forceing tempting and seduceing 
of servants and for a nioi'e certaiue and ordei-ly 
supj)ly of them it may be necessary that an act of 
Parliamt should pass with such powei's and pro- 
visions as may be proper to the thing intended 
and necessary to the plantacons and convenient 
and beneiiciall to the places from wch servants 
may be drawn. 

8. That all felons and such as are condemned 
to death unless for murther or treason and such 
particular hainous felonies as shall be excepted 
shall by the mercy of the King if he thinks itt 
fitt not to pardon them bee repreived and design'd 
to forreigne plantations to serve twice seaven yeares 
at least and to have the value of tenn pounds sett 
up planting for themselves. 

9. That all persons to vvhome clergie is allowed 
may instead of being l)urnt in the hand be designd 
to the plantations for 7 yeares at least unlesse his 
Matie shall give the man especiall pai'don it being 
found by ccmstant experience that the cheife 

19 



146 



tlic'ifes and rontrivers of roblx'iies arc siu-li as arc 
escaped death bj' being burnt iu the hand. 

10. That all sturdy beggers as gipsies and 
other incorrigble rogues and vanderei's may be taken 
upp hy cunstaples and im])iisoned untill at the 
next Assizes or Sessions they shall either be acquit- 
ed and assigned to some setled aboade and course 
of life here or he appointed to be sent to the plan- 
tacions for five yeares under the condicions of ser- 
vants. 

11. And for as much as persons condenmed 
and such I'ogues grawne "W'ithe in all manner 
of villainc and habituated to a depraved and lazie 
conversacion are but ill seed for a j'oung plantacion 
and will bi'ing scandall, evell example and sever- 
all inconveniences to anj' place or Collonie to \\ ch 
they shall be assigned and appropriated it may be 
exj)edieut that directions and instructions be given 
to the Governors oftheChariljbeeislaudsto receive 
such as be appointed to them b_y the Comre heere 
and to exchange them for servants more civill and 
such as have beene seasoned with the climat and 
have been exercised in the works of planting & 
because it may be somewhat hard to expect such 
an unequall exchange it may be ballanced to them 
by haveing those sent from thc-nce under the con- 
ditions of tenn yeares service and by excejiting in- 
stead of them such as perhaps have not alcove three 
or fower yeares to serve according to the customs 
or contracts with theire masters. 

12. That whereas there are divers Townes, 
Villages, and Parishes in this nacion where the 
numbers of poore and idle debauched persons are 
exceeding greate and where there is either no 
meanes for the setting them on worke or by 
theire parents or themselves tliey are applj^ed to 
stealing or other idle or evil courses to the greate 
scandale and inconvcniencie of the nacion it 



14'; 



may hue uclviseublo that a pruvisiou ha made for 
the inviteing and receiving or com])elliug if it 
shall be judged fitt by the law in that case to bo 
provided sctnie few out of such Townes Villages or 
Parishes yearly wlio being especially to bee taken 
care of by the Comrs a])pointed here to the man- 
agemt of those affaires may be consigned to a 
plantation of his Maties in Jamaica where they 
may bee well ordered and haveing served there 
certaine yeares may have land asigned them and 
haveing cert aine toolcsand utensills allowed them 
upon the puljlicq stock may become good ]jlanters 
usefull t(j the i;lantation and comfortable and 
hopefull to theire friends. 

VS. And because a worke so publicke and of 
so greate importance ought to l)ee mannaged by 
some publicq [)ersous it may be expedient that the 
care conducte and comptroll of all matters rela- 
ting to the ti'ausportation of servants be leferred 
to certain Comrs proper and instructed there- 
unto. 

14. That there bee befoi'c these Comissfs a 
Registrie or Entrie of all servants that shall be 
t'-ansported from any part or place in England. 

15. That the Cornea shall appointe an Officer 
upon oath in such ports as they shall thinke fitt 
for the registring every person that shall be trans- 
ported as a servant liis age and the place where hee 
was boi-ne and where he was last resident. 

10. That all sucli condemned persons or others 
as by the lawes and by the judges or justices in 
sessions shall be judged or compelled to goe into 
the Forreigue plantations as Servants shall within 
three dales after such judgment be certified Ijy the 
Clarke of the peace or Clark of Assize to the said 
Comrs or their Register and that the said Comrs 
or Register doe write to the SherifPes of the res- 
pective Counties or Cilties ass'.'igning lo wliat 



148 



other Shesiffe or place or port they shall be 
delivered where there may be certaine worke 
howses erected for the receiving and employing 
them untill tlioy shall l)e transported. 

17. That the Comrs appointed thereunto shall 
take a settled care for the receiving transporting 
and consigning such persons as shall be by the law 
to be disposed of. 

18. That it shall lie left to the discretion of the 
said Comi's how the said servants may be the best 
disposed of to the advantage of his Mat'^ and to 
the publicq ntilitie in order to wcb they may dis- 
pose so many as liy theire correspondencle with his 
Maties Govcrment upon the place shall be judged 
necessary for his Matie imediate service either to 
the enabling the soldiers of Jamaica to bee 
Planters or to any othei' service or occasion and 
may order the rest to bee hired out or exchanged 
for jjrovisions or other things necessary for his 
Maties plantacion. 

19. And that this waie of supplying the 
forreigne Plantations may prove no grievance or 
inconvenience to the Merchants or Planters of the 
severall CoUonies the former accustomed liberty 
may l>e still left them fayrely to provide for theire 
owne use such servants as tliey can here contract 
witji they being obleidged to enter them at the 
port or places where they shall be shipped and 
cleared that thence they may be registered before 
the Com^s in the Grail Registi'ie. 

20. And lastly when as the severall servants 
that are sent from thence shall arrive in the respec- 
tive CoUonies and Plautacions it may be conveni- 
ent that they may be there registred by the 
respective Secretaries and that every six months 
the said Secretaiies doe transmitt the names of the 
said sei'vants and the places ;ind persons to 
Avhome they are dispersed tliat theire friends may 



14i» 



the better unci crstand fmm tlio Register here liow 
they may heere of them or correspond with them. 



XVI. 



JOHN SAFFIN AND HIS DOMESTIC RELA- 
TIONS. 
[Mass. Archives, XI, 162, 153.] 

TO Ids Excellency Joseph Dudley Esq")' Captaine 
Generall & Conumdor in chief in & over Her 
Majestys Province of the Maftsathussetts Bay in 
Neio Englcond The Hon^l^ Council & Representa- 
tives Convened in the OreM & Gen^^ Court att 
Boston on the Twenty Sixth Bay of May Anno 
1703— 

The Petition of John Saffin Esq in all Hu- 
mility Presenteth. 

As the Parliament of England is the Supream 
Councill of the Nation, and the Sovereign Re- 
medy of all grievances, Oppressions, & Male 
Administrations of the Greatest Peers of the 
Realm, and the Higlicst Couits of Judicature 
Even so this great it Gen^ Court or Assembly is 
(as yoi" Petionr lium1)ly conceives) an Embleme 
or Similitude of that Power Derived from the 
Royall Charter granted to the People of this Pro- 
vince for the Redressing of the grievances Op- 
pressions ]\Iale Administi-ations and Tort Actions 
of the greatest Persons or Courts of Judicature 
Subordinate to this Grand Assemlily. And there- 
fore it is, that yor humble Petir (finding no 
other Remedy) is Iml>oldned humbly to Address 
this great Council, & Implore tlieir Ayd, that 
they would be pleased to grant him Audience in 
a matter wherein he is greatly Injured & Oppres- 
sed ; and in such a manner ho presumes there 



150 



hatb not l)een the like clone in New England. 
The thing in brief is this, Yor Peti"" hath a cei- 
taine Negro man named Adam that is with held 
or taken from him yor Petir under countenance 
of Authority (not collour of law) vf^^ Negro hath 
sooner or later cost yor Petir above Threescore 
pounds. The pretended matter in Controversj' 
hath been twice before no less than two Justices 
of the Peace, and at four severall Supeiior 
Courts, & continued above these two years last 
past, and yet is not Determined, nor doth yor 
Petir know when it will, in the meantime yor 
Peti'" is made a meer Vassall to his slave in being 
at continuall cost and Charges about hun to sup- 
ply him with all manner of Necessarys as Cloaths, 
Bedding food and Phisick, and attendance when 
lately he had the Small pox. AUso to pay the 
keeper for his keeping in Prison Three months 
where he was by the Quarter Sessions committed 
for his outrages & murtherous attempts at the 
Castle : generally known, (a Narrative whereof 
being in Print, ) yet for all this the said vile Negro 
is at this Day set at large to goe at his pleasure, in 
open Defiance of me his Master in danger of my 
life, he haveing threatned to be Revenged of me and 
all them that have Cross't his turbulent Humour, 
to the great Scandall and Evill Example of all 
Negros both in Town and Countrey whose Eyes 
are upon this wretched Negro to see the Issue of 
these his Exorbitant practices. 

The Premisses Considered yo Peti»" doth 
huml)ly Implore this Hont>le Assembly to grant 
Redress by Vouchsafeing yor Petir a hearmg 
either before this HonWe Assembly or by a 
Comittee as in yor Wisdomes you shall Deeme 
most Convenient, the vai'ious Circumstances of 
those Transactions being so large as to Exceed the 
limittsof A i)etitionin Wrileing ; And allso that 



151 



upon the understiuiding the Justice of yC Petirs 
cause yoJ" llouors will be pleased to doe him 
Right in all Respects, by Restoreing his said Negro 
to yor Petit" tliat as aii English Subject he may 
Dispose of his said Negro, as he shall see cause 
for his own Safty, and all other of her Majestys 
good Subjects that may be Exposed to any De- 
tnment by the s'^ Negros villainous practices. 

And yor Petionr as in Duty bound shall Pray 
vfcc. John Sapfin. 

In the House of Representatives 

June irst 1703 Read, June 8rd Read 

Ordered That the Petitioner have a Hear- 
ing before this Couii on the 2^ Wednes- 
day of the next Session. 

Sent up for Concurrence. 

Jams Converse Speaker. 

In Council June o^ 1703 

Read and not agreed to, and ordered That the 
matter be heard before the next Court of Gen- 
erall Sessions of the Peace for Suffolk 



IsA ^DDiNGTON Sccry 
Bsentatives June 3d 17( 

Jams- Converse Speaker. 



In the House of Repi-esentatives June 3d 1708 
Read and Agreed. 



[Endo7-fied] 

Petition of John Saffin Esq 
June 1, 1703. 



152 



TO his Excellemy Joseijlt Dudley Eii(f 
Govern''' Oaj)* Gen^i and Gomand''' in 
Chief in <& over Her 3Iaiies Province of the Maa- 
sethusetts Bay in Neiv England &c. the Honf>^^ 
Council & House of Bepresvntatives JSfow Assembled 
Novembr 15th 1703 

Sheweth 
The Petition of Jolm Sutiiii Esqi" most humbly 
That there i.o a ceitaine Negro man Named Adam 
Servant to yor Petition i" who hatli by his Vile be- 
haviour Exposd yor Petir to very much trouble 
and Charge above two years & half last past haveing 
been at no less than live Superior Courts & two In- 
ferior Courts seeking t( > 01 )teine his freedom under 
the pretence of A Writeing under the hand of yor 
Petir when he lett his farme at Bristol to Thomas 
Shepard with the said Negro, knowing him to be 
a Desperate Dangerous Villaine, and of a Turbulent 
humour I Endeavored to Oblige him to his Duty, 
and thereupon prouiised his freedome under 
my hand att the End of the Terme upon the Con- 
ditions in the words following Viztt Allways Pro- 
vided that the said Adam my Servant Doe in the 
meane time goe on Chearf ully quietly & Indur- 
triously in the lawfull Business that Either my 
Selfe or my Assigns shall from time to time 
Reasonably sett him about or Imploy him in And 
Doe behave & abare liimself as an honiest true and 
faithfull Servant Ought to doe Dureiug the Terme 
of Seven years as aforesaid. 

Now may it please j-o' Excellency and this 
HonT^le Assembly the said Negro hath in no wise 
performed the Conditions on wch he was to be free 
But on the Contrary hath l^ehaved himself Tur- 
buleutly Neglegently Insolently and Outragious- 
ly Ijoth to yor Petir and his Tenant Thomas 
Shepard his wife and family, and Others where 



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